Is it still around? The web site hasn’t been updated sonce the game of the year for 2015.
Not looking good. They usually start at the end of August and there’s no schedule up. There’s likely an interesting story to be told if they’ve gone under. Brian Mottershead and I went down to Harvard to view a couple of the matches and they were fun to observe.
Unless something has changed recently, the USCL is undergoing massive changes in format, and will be starting up again in January. Presumably Greg/Arun will be posting more details sometime before then.
So there will be change unless something changes.
Precisely 
The increase in the average rating allowable will reduce the number of teams that can be competitive. Under the old structure a team like Atlanta, with several players right around the 2400 limit but only one GM could still compete. With a 2500 limit and only one non-local player, they won’t be viable. Carolina will be in a similar situation. If their goal was to reduce the number of teams, I think they will succeed.
This isn’t to say that the rapid game, all play all format won’t be exciting. But it will no longer have the same city vs city feel for those of us who have been small market team fans for years. With Seattle and Atlanta has the teams I followed plus my new home in Vegas, I won’t have the same interest. The only good thing from my vantage point is having it on chess.com so I can watch for free.
If this was a real chess league, there would be divisions for amateurs to compete. The changes make for a truly all “pro” league which may be interesting to some, but will be a knock to traditional chess. Over time, this will devolve to an all-Russian/European league as more US players are forced out because they cannot meet the rating criteria or aren’t pals with the team organizers. In future years, it is likely the average team rating will go up to 2600 and higher to make the league even more elite. Even if free, fewer amateurs will watch the games as they have no underdogs or home cities to root for. On top of that, it is just low quality rapid chess/Quick chess.
This looks to be nothing more than a gambling league. This league might be subject to state and federal gaming laws if the prizes are substantial. Who will pay the taxes on the prizes? Will foreign player results be subject to the US tax code? How do you regulate what goes on in Europe or Russia?
Good luck to them, but I don’t see this doing much for chess in the long or even short term. As one who attended Boston Blitz team games on the Harvard University campus, the longer time controls allowed for friends to sit, looking at projections of all the boards and discuss and enjoy the games over coffee or hip flasks filled with one’s choice of alcohol. We got to know the team players and interact with them in a way you will not be able to do online. I watch major classical tournaments and matches on the Chessbase and other servers with friends or, if they’re working, texting them updates and kibbitzing that way. Sometimes quicker isn’t better. It’s just faster and ultimately less interesting chess. RIP US Chess League. It was fun while it lasted.
I don’t understand.
Alex Relyea
I understand.
Michael Bacon