PogChamps 2: All The Information

2020 Chess.com PogChamps Prize Fund 

Total Prize Fund: $50,000

Each player's winnings are determined by how far they advance into the Chess.com PogChamps.

Group Stage: 16 players, $4,000 prize pool.

• Each group stage winner (4 total) wins a $1,000 prize

Championship Bracket: 8 players, $30,000 prize pool

• Chess.com PogChamps Winner: $10,000
• 2nd Place: $6,000
• Semifinalist (2): $3,000
• Quarterfinalist (4): $2,000

Consolation Bracket: 8 players, $16,000 prize pool 

• 1st Place: $3,500
• 2nd Place: $2,500
• Semifinalist (2): $2,000
• Quarterfinalist (4): $1,500

Format

Groups and Seeding

• Groups will be seeded by an average of Blitz and Rapid rating on Chess.com.
• Ratings will be locked for seeding purposes on Monday, August 17th at 3pm PDT.

Group Stage

• The 16 players will be split into four groups of four players each, determined by the seeding above.
• In this phase, players will face each of the three opponents in their group in a match.
• Each match will consist of two 10+5 games, the player with the highest seed will play white first.
• In case of a tied match after two games, an "Armageddon" game will be played. White will have five minutes, and Black will have 4. The player who has the higher CAPS (accuracy) score from the 2-game match will choose their color for the Armageddon tiebreak.
• Players will earn 3 points for each match won outright, 2 points for each match won via Armageddon tiebreak, 1 point for each match lost via Armageddon tiebreak, and 0 points for each match lost outright.
• At the end of group play, each group will be ranked by points accumulated.
• The top two players advance to the Championship bracket, and the remaining two players advance to the Consolation Bracket.

In the case of a tie on points, the first tiebreak is average CAPS score across all three games.

Championship and Consolation Brackets

• Each bracket will consist of eight players, with predetermined seeding to ensure competitive equity.
• Both brackets will follow a single-elimination format, with the winner of each match progressing to the next round.
• Matches will consist of two 10+5 games, where the higher seed will get White to play first. In the case of a draw, a sudden death 3+0 game will be used to determine a winner, with the higher seed playing with the white pieces. In case of a draw in the tiebreaks, the colors will alternate until there is a winner.
• If players share identical seeds from group play, the player with the higher CAPS (accuracy) score from their previous round non-tiebreak game(s) will receive the white pieces to play first in the 10+5 games and will play white in the 3+0 tiebreak.

Players

The complete field :

• xQc

• forsen

• itshafu

• Connoreatspants

• Hafþór Björnsson

• Austin Show

• Cizzorz

• David Pakman

• tfblade

• easywithaces

• Gripex90

• TSM_ZexRow

• QTCinderella

• wagamamatv

• dogdog

• CallMeCarson