2018 Club Championship Round 2 This Week - USA Wins Chess Gold Medal

TEAM USA - Top board - Fabiano Caruana

We had 10 players this Monday night as Round 1 of the 2018 LCCC Championship concluded.
Although the tournament entries are closed, there will still be players looking for a casual game. So don't be shy - show up to play or watch the tournament action.

Now a quick article about the best news in US Chess in decades! Well, we had the story that Fabiano Caruana will play for the World Title in November of 2018. But this story should have been posted before that one.

Our United States Chess Team beat 180 other nations in the 2016 Chess Olympiad! Bet you did not know that!

Bet you didn't know our Women's Olympic Chess Team finished 5th. This is in spite of the fact that other nations support women in chess a lot more than the USA does. Actually every nation on the planet supports their chess players better than the United States does.

I could go into a diatribe about the pathetic state of our nation's journalism, their standards and their priorities, but I will refrain. Let this article be about our great - but completely ignored - chess team.

Here are the players and their record in their individual matches (Win-Loss-Draw:
Fabiano Caruana   4-0-6
Hikaru Nakamura  5-1-5
Wesley So              7-0-3
Samuel Shankland 4-1-3
Ray Robson           2-1-2

Each team consists of 4 players (or boards). Here is our team's record (seeded #2) versus each opponent (and their seed in tournament) - round by round;
1 - Andorra (95) - Won 4-0
2 - Scotland (47) - Won 3.5 - .5
3 - Argentina (32) - Won 3 - 1
4 - Czech Republic (18) - Draw 2 - 2
5 - Serbia (15) - Won 3 - 1
6 - Ukraine (5) - Won 2.5 - 1.5
7 - India (9) - Won 3.5 - .5
8 - Russia (1) - Draw 2 - 2
9 - Norway (12) - Won - 3 -1
10 - Georgia (11) - Won - 2.5 - 1.5
11 - Canada (20) - Won - 2.5 - 1.5

This gave the US team a 31.5 match points and a record of  9 - 0 - 2 - and 1st place overall!

Chess is bigger in the United States than the pathetic media coverage it receives. There is plenty of blame to go around. But it starts with chess players themselves. If we are not going to promote chess, why should we expect anyone else to?

Promote this result. Promote this blog. Promote the game. Write and call the media outlets and ask why this result was not published or broadcasted? Tell them about the scholastic events happening all over this state - and the nation!

Chess is still growing but the word needs to be spread. Get out there!