This is kind of a last-minute post, but if any of my readers are interested in playing in an online summer league, you can sign up now at chess.com to play for the San Francisco Mechanics (or another team of your choice).
Here is how it works. Unlike the winter season, the summer season will have fan participation. There’s a great deal I don’t understand about how these matches will work, but from what I have read on the website, the teams will have “roster players” (the “pros” who played during the winter season) and “fans” (under-2200 players who have signed up as fans of the team). The fans will play against each other, and the team that gets the most points will get three points toward winning the match. After that stage has finished, there will be a Knockout Match, which I assume is between the roster players. I don’t know exactly how that works, or how the score of the Live Club Match will be combined with the score of the Knockout Match. Here is a link that provides some of the same information that I just shared.
Step one, if you’re interested, is to sign up to be a fan of the San Francisco Mechanics, at http://www.chess.com/l/mechanics. Step two is to log on to chess.com tomorrow before 5 PM Pacific time, when our first match begins. Or if you want to play against the Mechanics, you can join one of the other teams in our group (the Chengdu Pandas, San Diego Surfers, or St. Louis Arch Bishops). See you tomorrow! Get ready for some chaos!
