Carlsen, Caruana Headline PRO Chess Week 3
World Champion Magnus Carlsen is back to star in week three of the Pro Chess League.
Be sure to watch all the action this Wednesday, starting at 8 a.m. Pacific, on Twitch.com/prochessleague.
Carlsen's Norway Gnomes face off against the other Norwegian team, the Oslo Trolls. In Carlsen's first match back in week one, the world champion scored a perfect 4/4.
Carlsen is a very popular choice in our fantasy contest, where we could be giving away $10,000 to a lucky Chess.com member.
The defending champs, the Saint Louis Arch Bishops, have gotten off to a rough start this season at 0.5/2. This week they plan for all of that to change as the first team in league history to use two 2700 players in the same lineup. Super grandmaster Fabiano Caruana makes his 2018 debut, and World Rapid Co-Champ, Vladimir Fedoseev, sits on board two. The Arch Bishops have a very tough test in the Miami Champions, who have GMs on the top three boards, including Venezuelan star Eduardo Iturrizaga.
The Montreal Chessbrahs were a powerhouse last season, but this week they face stiff competition in the Montclair Sopranos. The Sopranos have started 0-2 on the season but they are bringing the fire this week. The first-ever 2700-rated player from Africa, Bassem Amin, is making his league debut for Montclair. Also playing for Montclair are U.S. championship veterans Alex Lenderman and Sergey Erenburg, with one of the best poker players in the world, Dan Smith, playing on board four.
The Chessbrahs signed the 18-year-old grandmaster, Jorden Van Foreest, to try to contain Montclair's strong lineup.
The big matchup in the round doesn't have a lot of high-rated players, but both the Minnesota Blizzard and Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers have gotten off to a 2-0 start on the backs of their balanced lineups and are the only undefeated teams to be facing each other.
Minnesota has some of the top streamers in the world, with GM Andrew Tang and IM John Bartholomew, while Pittsburgh has the swashbuckling attacker GM Alex Shabalov, the 15-year-old GM Awonder Liang, and the former world U12 girls' champion, Jennifer Yu.
Other star players making their 2018 debut:
- GM Loek van Wely (Amsterdam Mosquitoes)
- GM Jeffery Xiong (Dallas Destiny)
- WGM Sabina Foisor (Dallas Destiny)
- GM Eric Hansen (Montreal Chessbrahs)
- GM Lauren Fressinet (Norway Gnomes)
Watch all the action this Wednesday, with 13 hours of action starting at 8 a.m. Pacific and going until 9 p.m Pacific. More information on the league can be found at ProChessLeague.com.
Be sure to tune in Wednesday, starting at 8 a.m. Pacific, on Twitch.com/prochessleague.
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