2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series: Official Information

The PRO Chess League season may be winding down, but beginning this June, the action will be heating up as the PRO Chess League presents PRO Chess League Summer Series. Fans of 16 PCL teams will join some of the top chess professionals as they head to battle in a series of live club matches to determine the champions of the PCL Summer Series, with the season broadcast live on www.Twitch.tv/chess.

Across Live Club Matches, Knockout Battles, and the Summer Series Championships, the 16 invited teams will compete for their share of a $25,000 prize fund.

Here's all the information you need to follow the 2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series:

• How To Play
• Standings
• Schedule
• How To Watch
• Live Club Matches
• Knockout Battles
• Summer Series Championships
• Prizes

How To Play

If you want to play alongside your favorite PRO Chess League teams this summer, you must be registered in their fan clubs to be eligible to compete. Fans can play for more than one team throughout the PRO Chess League Summer Series.

Here is a link to each PRO Chess League Club for every team competing in this year's Summer Series:

• Group A Fan Clubs: Chengdu Pandas, San Diego Surfers, Saint Louis Arch Bishops, San Francisco Mechanics
• Group B Fan Clubs: Baden Baden Snowballs, Barcelona Raptors, Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers, Reykjavik Puffins
• Group C Fan Clubs: Armenia Eagles, Moscow Wizards, Mumbai Movers, Sao Paulo Capybaras
• Group D Fan Clubs: Cannes Blitzstreams, Minnesota Blizzard, Montreal Chessbrahs, Norway Gnomes

Fans can play for more than one team throughout the PRO Chess League Summer Series.

Standings

Sixteen teams (four teams in each group) have been selected to participate in the 2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series. Here are the current group standings for the Summer Series:

2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series | Group A Standings

2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series | Group B Standings

2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series | Group C Standings

2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series | Group D Standings

Schedule

Here is the complete 2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series schedule. Specific match start times will be added soon.

2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series | Schedule

How To Watch

All events will be broadcast live on Twitch.tv/chess and Chess.com/tv. The broadcast archives will be published on Youtube and Chess.com/videos. Viewers can also watch the games in Chess.com/live.

On the PRO Chess League Twitch Channel (twitch.tv/prochessleague), featured streamers will play as fans in our Stream Squad Coverage. Cheer on your favorite players as they compete in the Live Club Matches each week.

After each Summer Series broadcast, NM James Canty III will provide post-game analysis for fans who competed in the Live Club Matches. Make sure to tune in to the PRO Chess League Twitch Channel (www.twitch.tv/GMCanty) to the coverage.

Live Club Matches

Each of the 16 teams will participate in its group's Live Club Match tournament. With four teams from each group competing in the PRO Chess League Summer Series, each team will face its group rivals over three weeks to qualify for the Summer Series Championships.

Unlike the PRO Chess League regular season, Live Club Matches will be used to determine the winner of each contest. As both teams send one rostered player to compete, they will be counting on fans to back them up. Players and fans will each play two 10|2 games against similarly rated opponents from the opposing team to score points. Fans may participate in the match if their Chess.com rapid rating is under 2200.

Teams will receive three points for winning the Live Club Match, one point for drawing the match, and zero for losing. In the case of a draw, the team that gained more Chess.com Fan Club members over the past week will earn an additional point to the standings (two total).

Want to play for your favorite PRO Chess League Teams? Make sure to join their Official Fan Clubs!

Knockout Battles

Each week, the four participating PRO Chess League players will compete in a knockout bracket to earn more points towards Summer Series Championship qualification.

Once the players are paired, each semifinal will consist of one 15|2 game, where the team with most new Fan Club members that week gets White. Should the match end in a draw, a 1|1 tiebreak game is played with reverse colors, where the team with the most new Fan Club members that week receiving draw odds.

The winners of each match play in a first-place match, while the loser of each match will play in a third-place game, with the same format as the first round.

Teams will receive three points for winning the knockout, two points for second place, one point for a third-place finish, and zero points for finishing fourth.

Summer Series Championships

Upon conclusion of the group phase, the top two teams from each group will automatically qualify to the 2019 PRO Chess League Summer Series Championship. The third-place teams from each group will be put up for a fan vote on Twitch, of which the top two placing teams will secure the ninth and 10th seeds into the Summer Series Championship.

Seeding for the PRO Chess League Summer Series will be determined as follows:

• 1-4: Group Winners, ranked by fan participation throughout the Summer Series
• 5-8: Second-place finishers, ranked by fan participation throughout the Summer Series
• 9: Third-place finisher, winner of the Twitch fan vote
• 10: Third-place finisher, second place in the Twitch fan vote

Each round of the playoffs will feature the traditional PRO Chess League all-play-all format, with four players on each team playing a 15|2 time control. The playoffs will take place over two days. In the case of an 8-8 tie, the higher seed advances to the next round.

On the first day, the PRO Chess League Summer Series Championships will kick off with the Play-In rounds:

Play-In (August 18)

• Match 1: Seed 9 vs Seed 10
• Match 2: Seed 7 vs Seed 8

The PRO Chess League Summer Series Championship Weekend consists of the Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals:

Quarterfinals (August 30)

• Match 3: Seed 1 vs Match 1 Winner
• Match 4: Seed 2 vs Match 2 Winner
• Match 5: Seed 3 vs Seed 6
• Match 6: Seed 4 vs Seed 5

Semifinals (August 31)

• Match 7: Match 3 Winner vs Match 6 Winner
• Match 8: Match 4 Winner vs Match 5 Winner

PRO Chess League Summer Series Championship (August 31)

• Match 9: Match 7 Winner vs Match 8 Winner

Prizes

The PRO Chess League Summer Series offers $25,000 in prizes for season-long team, individual and fan prizes.

• Live Club Matches: $16,600 Total, $4,150 for each of the four divisions
  • 1st Place: $1,500
  • 2nd Place: $1,200
  • 3rd Place: $850
  • 4th Place: $600
• Knockout Battles: $2,400 Total, $200 for each of the 12 weeks throughout the season
  
  • 1st Place: $100
  • 2nd Place: $60
  • 3rd Place: $40
• Summer Series Championships: $5,000 Total
  • 1st Place: $2,000
  • 2nd Place: $1,000
  • Semifinalists: $500
  • Quarterfinalists: $250
• Best Fans: $1,000, $250 for each of the divisions

Each Division's top fan will be awarded a Best Fan Prize. Qualifications for this prize include:

• Active tournament participation
• Chess.com blogs about games (non-English blogs are acceptable)
• Tweet about PCL Summer Series
• No Fair Play violations