Last years Kentucky Chess Team Championship was my first experience on a team and unfortunately I was slated as a Captain. With this years edition of that tournament looming I'm looking for players to form a new team this year and in that mindset I found this great article by Arne Moll for Chessvibes.

I agree with the finer points of the article but let me relate some of my own personal experience from my one and only attempt at playing for a team. I honestly had difficulty handling the pressure of team chess. I held down my board pretty well considering I was one of the lowest rated 1st boards. That set the rest of the team up pretty nicely but some sad games created a nasty loss for the team. The oddest circumstance came in the first round (the only encounter we won) when I was playing a lifetime Class A (Mike Thomas - for you Kentuckians ... a great guy). Another teammate had won his game and a third had a forced draw if he wanted it. They all seemed to huddle around me to see what my opinion was and I told him to take the draw.

This form of communication would have been unethical to me had not the other team also looked to me for my answer. I played out my hard game and went from clearly winning ... to totally lost ... only to draw through a cheapo trick. The pressure had gotten to me as my first ever team game fortunately I did well enough to keep my team's win.
I'm looking forward to this years team event but I need some joiners to stay in the 1750 average rating cap. I'm going to try and avoid first board and try to mop up on second but I think it will only result in lost rating points.
I wonder if I could sneak these ladies in as Class C players?

Recently, WIM Luciana Morales wrote an article for Chess Life Online that reveals some of the ingredients that has brought the Scorpion Chess Club (the Brownsville, Texas based College Chess Club) to prominence.

Backing up just a bit before sharing a part of that wonderful article. I met Luciana shortly after I took over the facebook chess blogger group. She seemed pretty cool and down to earth. That's just a tidbit of my own personal nostalgia. On to the Quote:

What got us into the Final Four

Initially we were ranked 10th in the 2008 Pan-American Championships because of our rating. So how did we manage to get 3rd in the final standings in Dallas? I was not supposed to tell you about our secret, but here it goes. Now don’t tell anyone.

· INFRASTRUCTURE. Our chess team is at the top of the university’s list of assets. As a result, a few months ago our general headquarters moved to the Student Union, generally used for enhancing the college students’ lives. Specifically, we are now in possession of a huge office that makes our guests woo. You can tell we now have some extra motivation to train harder.

· TEAM SPIRIT. One day Dan Fernandez came up with an idea and nominated himself for the position of Sports Coordinator. His initiative started paying its fruits since the team grew more united. And healthy as well, I assume. Now every Sunday you can see us playing tennis. I know that there are other days for intramural activities like basketball, “Wii” sports and videogames. Personally, I prefer the more sedentary game “Risk” but my pals do not like it anymore since it brings out the Machiavellian side of some (golden moment: “I will not attack you in Europe”—and later, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t attack you in Asia”) and besides, it takes forever to finish a game.

· GIRLS. Is there any other team with two ladies on its roster that made it to the Final Four?

· SAWYER. Our killing machine. Awarded top player on 3rd board with 5.0 points out of 6.0 possible.

Without doubt, there are more factors and people involved in our success. One such person is our coach, Gilberto Hernandez, who has been the top Mexican player for many years. As our trainer, he is responsible for our improved chess. Also, Russell Harwood, director of the program, is responsible for its good management.