Team of Destiny: Dallas Wins USCL Championship

After six hours of play, the United States Chess League's championship match between the Dallas Destiny and the Boston Blitz came down to one final five minute game between the top players on each team. When the dust settled, it was the Destiny's IM Drasko Boskovic who took advantage of a blunder by Boston's GM Larry Christiansen to bring the title home to Dallas.

The Dallas Destiny captured their first USCL title, defeating the Boston Blitz 4-3 in a wild blitz tiebreaker that went late into the night. The tiebreaker was necessary after the regulation match finished in a 2-2 tie. Every game from the match is available for viewing at the USCL website.

While most match observers seemed to feel Dallas had the early advantage, it was Boston who broke through first with a win by SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun over IM Davorin Kuljasevic. Draws on board one and board three left Boston with a 2-1 advantage, with just one game remaining to be decided.

The match came down to the board four contest between WFM Bayaraa Zorigt and Boston's NM Chris Williams. With both players low on time, Zorigt gained the upper hand and won the game, evening the match at 2-2.

This forced the USCL's unique championship tiebreaker to begin. Starting with the bottom boards - a rematch between Zorigt and Williams - players would be eliminated if they failed to win a five-minute game of speed chess (with five seconds added to the clocks after each move). On a draw, both players would be eliminated, until a team was down to their final player; at that point, only wins would eliminate players from either team.

Going into the match, it appeared that Boston had a significant edge in the blitz tiebreaker format. Their top board, GM Larry Christiansen, is widely regarded as one of the top American blitz players of all-time. For Dallas to even get a shot at Christiansen, they first had to defeat SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, the winner of the Internet Chess Club's 2007 Dos Hermanas blitz tournament.