The Professional Rapid Online Chess League (PRO Chess League and abbreviated PCL) is an online rapid chess league operated by chess.com. It was preceded by the United States Chess League, which announced in 2016 that it would be renamed, reformatted, and opened to cities from around the world, and moved to the website chess.com.^[1][2]

In its inaugural season, the PCL comprised 48 teams, whose members included some of the highest-rated chess players in the world, including the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen, and other elite players including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, and Wesley So plus over 100 other grandmasters.^[3] The 48 teams represent cities in five continents.^[3][4]

Teams[edit]

Arch Bishops

Windmills

Pawngrabbrs

Blizzard

Sopranos

Champions

ChessBrahs

Surfers

Destiny

Hackers

Sluggers

Ospreys

Desert Rats

- Atlantic - Pacific

Krakens

- Atlantic

Horses

Gnomes

Stormbringers

Magicians

Trolls

Snowballs

Migraines

Blockbusters

Turtles

Mosquitoes

Lions

Towers

Puffins

- Eastern - Central

Eagles

Dyamite

Movers

Pandas

- Eastern - Pacific

Kangaroos

- Pacific

Format[edit]

• 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|2

For more information on the rules, see the following link

2017: Inaugural season[edit]

The first season started on January 11, 2017 and ended March 26, 2017.^[5][6] 48 teams participated, twelve of which had previously participated in the USCL. After the end of the first season, the St. Louis Arch Bishops defeated the Norway Gnomes, thus securing their first title.^[7] The PCL has a total prize fund of $50,000 compared to a prize fund of $10,000 in the USCL.^[8]

Standings ^[9][edit]

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

Playoffs[edit]

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.

Eastern division[edit]

Central division[edit]

Atlantic division[edit]

Pacific division[edit]

Semifinals and championship[edit]

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.

Awards[edit]

MVPs Player Team Wesley So St. Louis Arch Bishops Magnus Carlsen Norway Gnomes Georg Meier Stockholm Snowballs

Invitational Performances Award Player Team Best Female Deimante Daulyte Cannes Blockbusters U2600 Yannick Gozzoli Marseille Migraines U2500 Nikolay Noritsyn Toronto Dragons U2400 Nico Zwirs Apeldoorn Apes U2300 Richard Francisco Atlanta Kings U2200 Nicholas Rosenthal St. Louis Arch Bishops

2018[edit]

The 2018 season began on January 17 and ended on April 8 with the Armenia Eagles defeating the Chengdu Pandas to claim their first title.^[10]

Qualification[edit]

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

Qualification tournament[edit]

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

Super Saturday and Super Sunday[edit]

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
  

Standings ^[17][edit]

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

Playoffs[edit]

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

Awards ^[21][edit]

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

All-star game[edit]

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 amount of points in stage 1 (Time control = 3|0)

2019[edit]

The 2019 season started on November 9 with the Qualification Tournament in order to decide the expansion teams and will end on May 5. ^[23][24]

Qualification tournament[edit]

The qualification tournament took place on November 3 with two qualifiers. The event format was stated on the PRO Chess League website.^[25]

• 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

Championship history[edit]

PCL Championship by Team

Team	Titles Won	Last Won
Armenia Eagles	1	2018
St. Louis Arch Bishops	1	2017

Critic response[edit]

Supporters say the league's worldwide distribution, the prize money, and the participation of many of the world's top-rated players may create a new level of competition and awareness for the game. It is anticipated that the new formats are leading to a "rise in popularity of online and rapid chess". In addition, the PCL has the potential to dramatically change chess culture and could lead to corporate sponsorships. This change from an "individual and slow game," to a relatively quick and team format, has made the offering more viewer friendly.^[4]

In a 2017 article, Greg Shahade made a similar statement to what Eric Rosen mentioned. Shahade talked about the league featuring worldwide team competition, using the scheveningen system which gives lower rated players the chance to pull upset each week, and having the chance to "revolutionize chess".^[26][27]

In an article written by ESPN, Viswanathan Anand spoked about how convenient it was to play online compared to playing over-the-board.^[28]

References[edit]