2018 PRO Chess League Season

In order to combat the large league, Shahade decided to cut the league from 48 teams to 32 teams as he believed the inaugural season was "a bit too large and chaotic".In order to determine which teams would return, he used the following:[2][3][4]

• 24 teams invited
• 6 teams per Qualifier Tournament
• 2 teams per fan vote

For 2018, the PCL introduced a new match format which allowed teams to play outside of their division. In these matches, each team played one single four-game match against eight other teams on Saturday, and another eight on Sunday. Once every team had played sixteen other teams, the total match points were added up. The following prizes were given:[6][7]

• 1st: 1 match win + $500
• 2nd-6th: 1 match win
• 7th-10th: 1 match draw
• 11th-16th: 1 match loss

The top four teams from each division qualify for the playoffs while the two worst teams are relegated from the league and will have to partake in the qualifiers in order to rejoin the league.[8]

Eastern Division Teams Wins Loss Game Points 1 Armenia Eagles 6.5 2.5 98 2 Delhi Dynamite 5.5 3.5 95 3 Mumbai Movers 5.5 3.5 85 4 Estonia Horses 5 4 88 5 Norway Gnomes 4 5 92 6 Volga Stormbringers 4 5 88 7 Riga Magicians 3.5 5.5 81 8 Oslo Trolls 2 7 75.5

Central Division Teams Wins Loss Game Points 1 Stockholm Snowballs 6.5 2.5 90.5 2 Marseille Migraines 6.5 2.5 87 3 Cannes Blockbusters 5 4 78.5 4 Ljubljana Turtles 4.5 4.5 89.5 5 Amsterdam Mosquitoes 3 6 90 6 London Lions 4 6 79.5 7 Reykjavik Puffins 2.5 6.5 78.5 8 London Towers 1 8 71.5

Atlantic Division Teams Wins Loss Game Points 1 Webster Windmills 7.5 1.5 99.5 2 Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers 7 2 98 3 St. Louis Arch Bishops 5.5 3.5 101 4 Minnesota Blizzard 5.5 3.5 92 5 Montclair Sopranos 4 5 85.5 6 Miami Champions 3 6 83 7 Montreal ChessBrahs 2.5 6.5 83 8 Buenos Aires Krakens 2 7 73.5

Pacific Division Teams Wins Loss Game Points 1 San Diego Surfers 7.5 1.5 99 2 Chengdu Pandas 6.5 2.5 104 3 Dallas Destiny 6.5 2.5 100 4 Australia Kangaroos 5 4 94.5 5 San Jose Hackers 4.5 4.5 97.5 6 Seattle Sluggers 4.5 4.5 86 7 Rio Grande Ospreys 3.5 5.5 84.5 8 Las Vegas Desert Rats 1 8 60.5

After the regular season, the top four teams from each division qualified for the playoffs with the teams being seeded 1–4 in their division. In addition, the teams that won their division were invited to play the final two round in San Francisco at the Folsom Street Foundry.[9][10]

*Advanced due to higher seed

**Advanced due to higher draw odds

***Triple overtime victory

All Stars Division Player Team Eastern Magnus Carlsen Norway Gnomes Hrant Melkumyan Armenia Eagles Zaven Anderiasyan Armenia Eagles Viswanathan Anand Mumbai Movers Central Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Marseille Migraines Georg Meier Stockholm Snowballs Luka Lenic Ljubljana Turtles Gawain Jones London Towers Atlantic Fabiano Caruana St. Louis Arch Bishops Aleksandr Shimanov Webster Windmill Awonder Liang Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers Andrew Tang Minnesota Blizzard Pacific Hikaru Nakamura Seattle Slggers Yu Yangyi Chengdu Pandas Alexey Dreev San Diego Surfers Anton Smirnov Australia Kangaroos

MVPs Player Team Fabiano Caruana St. Louis Arch Bishops Magnus Carlsen Norway Gnomes Hikaru Nakamura Seattle Sluggers

Invitational Performances Award Player Team Best Female Ju Wenjun Chengdu Pandas U2600 Zaven Andriasyan Armenia Eagles U2500 Andrew Tang Minnesota Blizzard U2400 Brandon Clarke Australia Kangaroos U2300 Artak Manukyan Armenia Eagles U2200 Sander Kukk Estonia Horses

Notes:

• [11]

The 2018 All-Star Game was on September 8 with stage 1 and on September 9 for stage 2. The following event format was used.[12]

• Stage 1: Round-robin tournament where every player plays one game against everyone else from other three teams, total of 12 games (Time control = 3|1)
• Stage 2: Knockout round. Seeding determined by total number of points in stage 1 (Time control = 3|0)