PRO Chess: What Team Are You Voting For?

The PRO Chess League's 2nd season commenced on Saturday, October 28, with two qualifiers (Pacific/Atlantic and Central/Eastern) where 33 teams across the globe competed for 8 coveted spots in the regular season. Six teams have officially qualified by placing in the top three of each tournament. Meanwhile, two more teams will be chosen from the 4th-6th place finishers by fans through votes on Chess.com and Twitter over the next 2 days. Let's take a look at the winning teams and the teams with their fates hanging in the balance.

Pacific & Atlantic Divisions

Teams that have qualified:

1st: Chengdu Pandas

2nd: Seattle Sluggers

3rd: Australia Kangaroos

Teams that have the chance to qualify by vote:

4th: New York Knights

5th: Minnesota Blizzard

6th: San Francisco Mechanics

How do you decide who to vote for? Here are a few factors worth considering:

• Team Score
• Individual Performances
• Fan Engagement

Top Team Score:

New York Knights

The Knights finished just a half point outside of the top three with 34 total points---1.5 points ahead of the Blizzard and 3 points ahead of the Mechanics. .

Best Individual Performance:

San Francisco Mechanics

The Mechanics Board 1, GM Daniel Naroditsky, started by winning his first five games in row, making him the early tournament leader. He finished in clear 3rd with 11.5 points, just a half point out of a tie for 1st with World #10 Hikaru Nakamura and World #16 Yu Yangyi.

 .

Best Fan Engagement:

The Minnesota Blizzard

IM John Batholomew created a YouTube video about the team. In the video, he discusses the Blizzard’s performance during the qualifier and even shares a nice tactic from one of his games in the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srD8pIKQ0N0   In addition, the Minnesota Blizzard has had the most active Twitter account.   https://twitter.com/mnblizzardchess/status/924474865205301249 .

Runner-Up:

San Francisco Mechanics

The San Francisco Mechanics have also made efforts to interact with fans, including blogs and tweets rallying fans to vote:

• Dana Machenzie's blog, including analysis of a couple Mechanics' qualifier games: http://www.danamackenzie.com/blog/?p=4988
• GM Daniel Naroditsky’s blog: https://www.chess.com/blog/DanielNaroditsky/vote-for-the-sf-mechanics-or-else
• IM David Pruess’s blog: https://www.chess.com/blog/dpruess/help-real-easy

  https://twitter.com/DPruess/status/924710881597972480 .

How will you decide?

Twitter Poll:

https://twitter.com/PROChessLeague/status/924703180658827264

Chess.com Poll:

https://www.chess.com/survey/which-team-from-our-late-pro-chess-league-qualifier-gets-your-vote-to-join-the-pacific-or-atlantic-d  

Central & Eastern Divisions

Teams that have qualified:

1st: Armenia Eagles

2nd: Estonia Horses

3rd: Mumbai Movers

Teams that have the chance to qualify by vote:

4th: Oslo Trolls

5th: Apeldoorn Apes

6th: Rehovot Masters

Voting Considerations:

VoTop Team Score:

Oslo Trolls and Apeldoorn Apes

The scores were particularly close in the Central/Eastern qualifier. The Trolls and Apes tied for 4th with 32 points. Trailing by just a half point, the Rehovot Masters finished with 31.5. .

Best Individual Performance:

Oslo Trolls

FM Sebastian Mihajlov of the Trolls scored 10 points, tying for 5th. .

Best Fan Engagement:

Tie

All three of the teams in consideration, the Trolls, Apes, and Masters, have been utilizing Twitter. https://twitter.com/OsloTrolls/status/924375393800540160 https://twitter.com/ApesApeldoorn/status/924731033047715840 https://twitter.com/RehovotM/status/924778665078124544  

Twitter Poll:

https://twitter.com/PROChessLeague/status/924702872914354176

Chess.com Poll:

https://www.chess.com/survey/which-team-from-our-early-pro-chess-league-qualifier-gets-your-vote-to-join-the-central-or-eastern-d  

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  For more information, visit:

• My preview of the qualifier tournaments
• Chess.com's qualifier recap: "6 Teams Qualify for PRO Chess League; You Pick 2 More!"
• The PRO Chess Website
• The PRO Chess League Twitter

 

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About the Author

Vanessa West is a regular writer and digital assistant for US Chess News. She won the 2017 Chess Journalist of the Year award. You can follow her on Twitter: @Vanessa__West