[imagefield_assist|fid=16348|preset=fullsize|lightbox=true|title=IM Priyadharshan Kannappan burst onto the scene, winning the U.S. Chess League MVP award in his rookie season.|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=700|height=515]
By Matt Barrett
It was a season of firsts for the Saint Louis Arch Bishops. Competing in its third season in the U.S. Chess League, this campaign was marked by numerous first-time accomplishments, including a winning record, an appearance in the playoffs, and a victory over the division winner and preseason favorite Dallas Destiny. It was not pure coincidence that this performance came the same year that Webster University began a program under the tutelage of GM Susan Polgar and that Lindenwood University produced its first ever collegiate chess team. In fact, over the course of the season, it became clear that the best team the Arch Bishops could put together consisted purely of students from those two university programs.
The story of the season was certainly the surprise MVP. Practically no one outside of the biggest international chess fans had heard of IM Priyadharshan Kannappan in the United States prior to his arrival at Lindenwood. Unsung when the USCL began in September, Kannappan became a sort of hero for Saint Louis as events unfolded, defeating numerous grandmasters over the course of the year including Joel Benjamin and Larry Kaufman. Incredibily, he did not lose a single game during the entire regular season, scoring 8.5 out of 10! With the usually solid GM Ben Finegold manning board one for the first several weeks, it became apparent around the midway point of the season that there was a chance the Saint Louis team would turn out better than previous editions, even those featuring world star GM Hikaru Nakamura.
In the USCL, the average rating of the team cannot exceed 2400, so a grandmaster around 2600 generally has to be counterbalanced at the bottom board by someone lower than 2200. The key, then, becomes finding underrated players and still coming as close as possible to the maximum average rating. It wasn't until Ben left to coach the World Youth Championship in Slovenia that the idea came about of a more balanced roster, which because of precise numbers, meant featuring the collegiate players.
In the final two weeks of the regular season and into the playoffs, the Arch Bishops rode with a powerful lineup of GM Andre Diamant of Webster and three Lindenwood players, IM Priyadharshan Kannappan, IM Levan Bregadze, and NM Nolan Hendrickson. Because of the need to balance the overall team rating, this lineup was ideal because the team squeezed under the maximum average rating by only one point! It turned out to be a perfect strategy. While Diamant might not win all of his games, he can play competitively against all comers at board one, allowing Kannappan and Bregadze an easier road to wins or draws on boards two and three. Meanwhile Hendrickson on board four plays underrated at 2202, thereby improving chances of a team win in any given matchup. In no case other than the round 10 matchup versus number one Dallas did this lineup reap more benefits. Even though things did not go well for Diamant on board 1, the other players took advantage of their rating edge on the lower boards to upset the league leaders.
Even in the first round of the playoffs, things were going remarkably well for the Arch Bishops, who won quickly on board four and got an easy draw at board one. Within a half point of advancing, Kannappan and Bregadze surprisingly both faltered in equal or better positions. This occasion marked the only loss for Kannappan all year, in what truly was an incredibly impressive rookie campaign. Perhaps next season Saint Louis can match or surpass their lofty achievements from this year!
