Professional Rapid Online Chess League

• For each match, teams may have at least one free agent in the lineup
• The average rating of the four players in each match must be under 2500
• Each match uses a scheveningen system with the first team to reach 8.5 points or higher winning. Time control is 15 minutes plus a 2 second increment per move.

For more information on the rules, see the following link

Eastern Division W L TB GP y – Delhi Dynamite 5 2 20.5 65.5 x – Budapest Gambit 4.5 2.5 24.5 62 x – Gorky Stormbringers 4.5 2.5 19 61 x – Norway Gnomes 3.5 3.5 28 60 x – Mumbai Movers 3.5 3.5 27 54 x – Riga Magicians 3.5 3.5 25.5 56.5 Ljubljana Direwolves 3.5 3.5 24.5 51.5 Belgrade Sparrows 3.5 3.5 18.5 62.5 Odisha Express 2 5 20 45 Amaravati Yodhas 1.5 5.5 16 48.5 Shymkent Nomads 1 6 23 44.5 Johannesburg Koeksisters 1 6 20.5 40

Central Division W L TB GP y – Marseille Migraines 5 2 27 67 x – Stockholm Snowballs 5 2 24 62.5 x – Amsterdam Mosquitoes 4 3 26 58.5 x – Cannes Blockbusters 4 3 25.5 56 x – London Lions 4 3 25 55.5 x – London Towers 4 3 23 68 Hamburg Swashbucklers 3.5 3.5 25 53.5 Apeldoorn Apes 3 4 21 56.5 Reykjavik Puffins 2.5 4.5 23.5 62 Dublin Desperados 2 5 19.5 56.5 Abuja Rockstars 2 5 17.5 39 Lagos Leatherbacks 0 7 21.5 26.5

Atlantic Division W L TB GP y – Montreal ChessBrahs 6 1 27 65.5 x – Buenos Aires Krakens 5 2 27 58.5 x – Toronto Dragons 5 2 26.5 71 x – Montclair Sopranos 5 2 22.5 66 x – Philadelphia Inventors 4.5 2.5 26.5 62 x – Miami Champions 4 3 22 62 New Jersey Knockouts 3.5 3.5 27 55 New York Knights 3 4 28 55.5 Patagonia Penguins 3 4 23 50 Atlanta Kings 2.5 4.5 25.5 56.5 Carolina Cobras 2 5 21 42.5 Columbus Cardinals 0 7 23.5 26.5

Pacific Division W L TB GP y – St. Louis Arch Bishops 6 1 29.5 70.5 x – Webster Windmills 6 1 27.5 68.5 x – Dallas Destiny 5.5 1.5 29 67 x – San Diego Surfers 5.5 1.5 26 68 x – Rio Grande Ospreys 5 2 31 58.5 x – San Jose Hackers 4 3 33.5 59 Las Vegas Desert Rats 3.5 3.5 29 59.5 Minnesota Blizzard 3 4 28.5 51 Seattle Sluggers 3 4 25 57 San Francisco Mechanics 3 4 23 52.5 Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers 3 4 21.5 47 Portland Rain 1.5 5.5 27 36.5

Notes

• y – Clinched Division
• x – Clinched Playoff Berth

After the end of the regular season, the top six teams from each division qualify for the playoffs with each team being seeded 1-6 based on regular season wins.

During the semifinal round, regardless of the participating teams, the winner of the Eastern Division will play the winner of the Central Division, and the winner of the Atlantic Division will play the winner of the Pacific Division.

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:[11][12][13]

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

The qualification tournament took place on November 3 with two qualifiers. The event format was stated on the PRO Chess League website.[14]

• 13 round individual Swiss using time format of 3|2
• Scores determined by adding sum of scores from all four team members
• Top 2 teams from each qualifying tournament automatically qualify for PCL

*Won fan vote to qualify for Stage 2

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:[15][16]

• 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.[18]

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 qualify 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.[19][20]

*Advanced due to higher seed

**Advanced due to higher draw odds

***Triple overtime victory

The 2018 all-star game will be scheduled on September 8 with stage 1 and on September 9 for stage 2. The following event format will be used.[22]

• 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)

The qualification tournament took place on November 3 with two qualifiers. The event format was stated on the PRO Chess League website.[14]

• 13 round individual Swiss using time format of 3|2
• Scores determined by adding sum of scores from all four team members
• Top 2 teams from each qualifying tournament automatically qualify for PCL

*Won fan vote to qualify for Stage 2