U.S. Chess League
| Sport | Chess |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| No. of teams | 20 |
| Country |
 United States
|
| Most recent champion(s) |
Manhattan Applesauce |
| Official website | http://www.uschessleague.com |
The United States Chess League (USCL) was the only nationwide chess league in the United States for eleven years. In 2016 the League announced it would be opened to cities from around the world, moved to the website chess.com, and renamed the Professional Rapid Online Chess League.
At its peak, the USCL comprised twenty teams, whose members included some of the highest-rated chess players in the United States. Participants in the last season included Wesley So, Alexander Onischuk, Alex Lenderman, Anton Kovalyov, Varuzhan Akobian, Daniel Naroditsky, Julio Becerra, Joel Benjamin, and many other grandmasters. The League was founded in 2005 by International Master Greg Shahade. In later seasons the league was run by Arun Sharma, who was the Vice President of the USCL.
On January 30, 2005 the San Francisco Mechanics became the first team to join the U.S. Chess League. Carolina joined the league on April 30, 2005, bringing the league to its full first-season roster of eight teams. The Boston Blitz and the New York Knights played the inaugural match on August 31, 2005.
The league concluded its first season on November 24, 2005 when the Baltimore Kingfishers defeated the Miami Sharks three and a half to a half in the USCL Championship Match.
The league recognized the game between GM Larry Christiansen (Boston Blitz) and IM Pascal Charbonneau (Baltimore Kingfishers), won by Charbonneau in Week 4, as Game of the Year.
On March 10, 2006 Commissioner Shahade announced that two expansion teams, the Seattle Sluggers and the Tennessee Tempo, would join the league for the second season. The 2006 season concluded on November 29, 2006 as the San Francisco Mechanics defeated the New York Knights in the blitz tiebreaker to win the Championship. Game of the Year honors went to the drawn game between GM Pawel Blehm (Baltimore) and GM Pascal Charbonneau (New York Knights) from Week 2.
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