Snowballs Comeback Against Bears In Central Division

Central Division

• Marseille Migraines vs. Amsterdam Mosquitoes: 7-9
• Berlin Bears vs. Baden-Baden Snowballs: 7.5-8.5
• Ljubljana Turtles vs. Barcelona Raptors: 6.5-9.5
• Cannes Blitzstreams vs. Norway Gnomes: 7.5-8.5

Spoelman Takes Another Super-GM Scalp

It's not entirely fair to say that any match ever comes down to one game, but sometimes it feels that way. Wouter Spoelman was the hero for the Amsterdam Mosquitoes as he defeated French number-one Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in an exciting final-round game. Spoelman previously made waves last year when he bested Magnus Carlsen.

You can catch Vachier-Lagrave's own perspective on the game on his brand new Twitch channel. For the first time, Vachier-Lagrave streamed the Marseille Migraines matches.

Watch MVL and the Marseille Migranes #prochess from mvlchess on www.twitch.tv

2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Marseille Migraines vs. Amsterdam Mosquitoes

Migraines	Mosquitoes	Wouter Spoelman	David Klein	Quinten Ducarmon	Liam Vrolijk	9
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave						3
Etienne Bacrot						3
Alban Delorme						1
Alexandre Bacrot						0
7		4	2	1	2

Snowballs Put Bears Into Hibernation

What a match! The Baden-Baden Snowballs started disastrously against their German counter-parts as they lost 0.5-3.5 against the Berlin Bears. A critical first-round game was this beauty from FM Steve Berger against GM Kiril Alekseenko.

Fortunately for Alekseenko, he redeemed himself in an amazing final round as the Snowballs put the Bears into hibernation with a 3.5-0.5 victory of their own!

2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Berlin Bears vs. Baden-Baden Snowballs

Bears	Snowballs	Georg Meier	Kirill Alekseenko	Dmitrij Kollars	Inna Agrest	8.5
Niclas Huschenbeth						1.5
Leon Mons						2.5
Steve Berger						2
Raphael Lagunow						1.5
7.5		2.5	2	3	1

Brand-New Raptors Best Last Year's Champions

In an incredible PRO Chess League debut, the Barcelona Raptors scored 4/4 and 3.5/4 on boards one and three respectively as they overcame last year's divisional champions, the Ljubljana Turtles. In fact, they secured victory with a round to spare. This win from IM Alejandro Alvarado Diaz made a particularly striking impression.

2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Ljubljana Turtles vs. Barcelona Raptors

Turtles	Raptors	Hipolito Asis Gargatagli	Carles Diaz Camallonga	Alejandro Alvarado Diaz	Jose Herrera	9.5
Jure Borisek						1.5
Matej Sebenik						2
Boris Markoja						2
David Stevanic						1
6.5		4	2	3.5	0

Gnomes Defeat Blitzstreams To Fanfare

The Norway Gnomes and the Cannes Blitzstreams each performed to big audiences as GM Jon Ludvig Hammer and Kevin Bordi streamed their team's matches. The Gnomes had the slightly more impressive support as they played their matches together at "The Good Knight" pub in Oslo. You can feel energy in this clip they posted on Twitter.

Hammer's commentary was also streaming live from The Good Knight, and the Gnomes credited the fanthusiasm with helping them overcome a worthy foe. The Blitzstreamers had even more Twitch fan support, but they came just short in the final round.

Watch PRO Chess League saison 2019: Cannes contre la Norvège from BlitzStream on www.twitch.tv

2019 PRO Chess League | Week 1 | Cannes Blitzstreams vs. Norway Gnomes

Blitzstreams	Gnomes	Aryan Tari	Johan Salomon	Kristian Stuvik Holm	Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen	8.5
Maxime Lagarde						2.5
Matthieu Cornette						1.5
Deimante Cornette						1.5
Sebastien Joie						2
7.5		2.5	3	1.5	1.5