The PRO Chess League Qualifiers will take place over a series of eight tournaments. Each tournament will qualify one team to the PRO Chess League.
To register your team for the first qualifier event, SIGN UP HERE.
Below are the regulations:
A. Qualifier Dates: The four qualifier events for the 2020 PRO Chess League Season will take place in 2019 on Tuesday, September 24, October 8, October 22 and November 5. The final of each qualifier will take place on the following Tuesday. The exact starting times will be announced closer to the event.
B. Qualifier Rules:
B1: Each Qualifier Date will consist of four four team knockout tournaments, for a total of 16 teams, in which one team from each tournament will qualify to the next PRO Chess League season.
B2: The tournaments will be largely divided by time zone.
B3: The PRO Chess League commissioner's office will have full discretion on which 16 teams will play in each qualifier event.
B4: The tournaments will follow the standard PRO Chess League Match format, with a time control of 15 2. Every player on one team will play every player on the other team. If you win in the first week of the qualifier, you advance to the Final. The winner of each qualifier's Final will get a spot in the 2020 PRO Chess League Season.
B5: If your match is tied, a single round of 3 1 time control games will decide which team joins the PRO Chess League. Board 1 will face Board 1, and so on with reversing colors of the regular match. If this is tied the colors will reverse and another round of 2 1 time controls will be played, followed by 1 plus 1 time control until one team emerges victorious.
C: Team Formation:
C1: To join, you will organize your team around one city, state or region (final jurisdiction of "local area" approved or denied by commissioner's office).
C2: Each team is made up of four players, three of whom must be "local" players and one who can be a "free agent." You are not required to use a free agent, and can instead use four local players.
C3: A free agent is a player from anywhere in the world.
C4: A local player is a player who is from the same region as your team. In all countries except for the United States, China, Russia and India, a local player will be someone who either lives in the same country as your team, or has lived there at some point for a continuous period of three full years.
C5: If your team is from the United States, China, Russia or India, your country is broken into sub-regions, which can be found at the end of this article. The location of your sub-region determines which players are considered local for
your team. *
C6: If your team qualifies for the PRO Chess League, anyone who played for your team in any of the qualifier events is required to play on your team and be on your active roster during the PRO Chess League season immediately following the qualifier, and cannot play for any other team. If your team does NOT qualify, everyone who played for your team in the qualifier is free for play on any team they wish.
C7: The four players on your team must play in order of their actual September Classical FIDE rating.
D: Team Ratings
D1: The most recent September Classical Rating List will be used to determine ratings for the Qualifier. These ratings will ALSO be used for the PRO Chess League Season
D2: The maximum average rating must be under 2500 (2499.75 is legal, 2500.00 is not)
D3: Teams can potentially have a higher rating than 2500 as follows:
D.3.1. There are bonuses available for players above 2700 (their rating only counts as 2700 towards the average rating). This is to encourage more top players to participate in the league
D.3.2. There are bonuses available to female players (their rating = rating-100). Therefore a 2500-rated female would count as 2400 towards the average. This is to encourage more females to participate in the league.
D.3.3. Anyone rated under 2000 will be considered as rated 2000 towards the team's average rating. So an 1800 is treated as a 2000-rated player. A woman rated 2050, is treated as a 2000-rated player (and not a 1950-rated player).
E: Team Selection
We will choose teams based on many factors:
E1: Will your team stream on Twitch both during the qualifier and during the regular season?
E2: Do you already have an established and popular stream?
E3: Do you plan to frequently use Social Media like Twitter and Facebook to promote your team?
E4: Do you plan to include strong and popular players in your lineup?
E5: Do we expect you to field extremely strong lineups throughout the PCL season if you should qualify?
E6: How much energy and passion do you show for both your team and the PRO Chess League?
E7: Do you have a successful history of playing in the PRO Chess League?
* Regions:
1. United States Regions
Region 1: New York, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, New Jersey
Region 2: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, District of Columbia, West
Virginia, Virginia, Delaware
Region 3: Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee,
Mississippi, Kentucky
Region 4: Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska
Region 5: Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kansas
Region 6: Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming,
South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska
Region 7: Southern California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico,
Hawaii
(This map shows the borders of Northern and Southern California that will be
used in the PCL)
2. Russia Regions
Region 1: Central District
Region 2: Volga District
Region 3: North Caucasian and Southern Districts
Region 4: Northwestern District
Region 5: Urals, Siberian and Eastern Districts
3. India Regions
Region 1: Jammu&Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand,
Haryana, Delhi
Region 2: Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Dadra&Nagar Haveli
Region 3: Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala
Region 4: Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal,
Sikkim, Meghalaya, Asom, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Aunachal Pradesh
4. China Regions
Region 1: Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, Ningxia
Region 2: Hainan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Chongqing, Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi
Region 3: Hubei, Anhul, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu
Region 4: Henan, Shandong, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi,
Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia
