Carlsen Conundrum Makes Novi Sad

Next week's European Team Championship in Novia Sad, Serbia received a setback with the news that Magnus Carlsen had to withdraw from the Norwegian team, citing his heavy super-tournament schedule becoming too tight to allow for proper rest and preparation.

Just before the Nanjing Pearl Spring super-tournament, Carlsen announced he would be leading the Norwegian team in Novi Sad. But following his historic win in China, Carlsen - on the brink of becoming the youngest-ever world #1 - was faced with a conundrum of being overworked with three super-tournaments in as many months. Wise heads prevailed, and the news broke on the Norwegian portal TV2 Nyhetene mid-week that, following consultation with his trainer Garry Kasparov and father Henrik, Carlsen made the agonizingly tough call to withdraw from the Norwegian team after returning from China.

Over the next three months, Carlsen's super-tournament schedule is, indeed, hectic to say the least. In November, he plays the Tal Memorial in Moscow, followed in December by the London Chess Classic, and in January Corus Wijk aan Zee. ICC Chess.FM will be on the air covering those major events on the chess calendar with our usual GM team of commentators.

ICC will also be relaying the games of the European Team Championship live. Play runs 22nd-30th October, ICC start time 09:00am (07:00am final round). The 9 round, 38-team event (featuring Topalov, Aronian, Radjabov, Morozevich, Jakovenko, Svidler, Gashimov, Grischuk and Shirov) has top three seeds of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

And with all this top-notch chess action getting underway next week with the European Team Champion, now is the best time to secure your front-row seat here at ICC for all the live relays, Chess.FM live commentary, Game of the Days and video action on the Chess.FM blog, not to mention all our regular shows. Just sign-up today for ICC and we'll bring you all the action as it happens, when it happens.

USCL Readies for Playoffs

The hugely popular United States Chess League, hosted exclusively here Mondays and Wednesdays on ICC, readies itself for the title-deciding playoffs as the regular season draws to a close after the conclusion of Week 7 of 10.

And three teams are already assured of the playoffs, including Boston Blitz (GM Larry Christiansen on top board) and New Jersey Knockouts (led by GM Joel Benjamin) from the Easter Division, with the Seattle Sluggers (led by fan favorite and current league MVP leader GM Hikaru Nakamura) in the Western Division. So with just three weeks of the regular season left to be played, five spots are still up for grabs for the playoffs - and it promises to be a dramatic fight to the finish for those spots!

Watch round eight action live here next week - with the big match being Boston Blitz vs. New Jersey KOs - by being a member on ICC and check U.S. Chess League for blog links, games and more. Chess.FM will also have exclusive live commentary of the USCL finals in December.