48 Teams, Over 100 Grandmasters To Play PRO Chess League
We've already announced that Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Wesley So are signed up to play in the inaugural season of the PRO Chess League. It is now our great pleasure to announce the full list of teams and their first boards which includes these Super-GMs as well as GMs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Li Chao. In total, over 100 grandmasters and nearly 400 total players are committed.
The French number-one, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, is the latest super-grandmaster to join the PRO Chess League.
The 48 teams composing the PRO Chess League will compete for glory and $50,000 dollars in prizes. These include teams from both North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. We only lack a team from Australia (Although Australians such as David Smerdon are playing, "Smurfo" represents the London Lions), and Antarctica.
Teams will compete in four divisions of 12 teams each. Divisions are designed to be be grouped roughly by time zone to minimizing scheduling conflicts. Who is your favorite team? Join their fan club by clicking the team names!
Blue Division (Eastern North America and South America)
| Teams | First Board | |
| Atlanta Kings |  |
GM Gadir Guseinov |
| Buenos Aires Krakens |  |
GM Federico Ponsa |
| Carolina Cobras |  |
NM Emmanuel Carter |
| Columbus Cardinals |  |
IM Atanos Kizov |
| Miami Champions |  |
GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| Montreal ChessBrahs |  |
GM Fabiano Caruana |
| New Jersey Knockouts |  |
GM Alex Stripunsky |
| New York Knights |  |
GM Oliver Barbosa |
| Patagonia Penguins |  |
GM Fernando Peralata |
| Philadelphia Inventors |  |
GM Andriy Vovk |
| Toronto Dragons |  |
GM Bator Sambuev |
| Montclair Sopranos |  |
GM Marc Arnold |
Red Division (Western North America)
| Teams | First Board | |
| Dallas Destiny |  |
GM Jeffery Xiong |
| Minnesota Blizzard |  |
GM Mauricio Flores |
| Portland Rain |  |
GM Jim Tarjan |
| Rio Grande Ospreys |  |
GM Anton Kovalyov |
| San Diego Surfers |  |
GM Aleksey Dreev |
| San Francisco Mechanics |  |
GM Patrick Wolff |
| San Jose Hackers |  |
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov |
| Seattle Sluggers |  |
GM Gabriel Sargissian |
| St Louis Arch Bishops |  |
GM Wesley So |
| Webster Windmills |  |
GM Ray Robson |
| Las Vegas Desert Rats |  |
GM Timur Gareev |
| Pittsburgh Pawngrabbers |  |
GM Eugene Perelshteyn |
Green Division (Western Europe and Africa)
| Teams | First Board | |
| Abuja Rockstars |  |
FM Kigigha Bomo |
| Amsterdam Mosquitoes |  |
GM Loek van Wely |
| Apeldoorn Apes |  |
GM Roeland Pruijssers |
| Cannes Blockbusters |  |
GM Vladislav Tkachiev |
| Dublin Desperados |  |
IM Sam Collins |
| Hamburg Swashbucklers |  |
GM Niclas Huschenbeth |
| London Towers |  |
GM David Howell |
| Stockholm Snowballs |  |
GM Georg Meier |
| Reykjavik Puffins |  |
GM Hannes Stefansson |
| London Lions |  |
GM Luke McShane |
| Lagos Leatherbacks |  |
FM Balogun Olufemi |
| Marseille Migraines |  |
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave |
Orange Division (Eastern Europe and Asia)
| Teams | First Board | |
| Belgrade Sparrows |  |
GM Branko Tadic |
| Budapest Gambit |  |
GM Benjamin Gledura |
| Delhi Dynamite |  |
GM Abhijeet Gupta |
| Gorky Stormbringers |  |
GM Evgeny Shaposhnikov |
| Johannesburg Koeksisters |  |
IM Daniel Cawdery |
| Ljubljana Direwolves |  |
GM Luka Lenic |
| Mumbai Movers |  |
GM Praveen Thipsay |
| Odisha Express |  |
IM Padmini Rout |
| Riga Magicians |  |
GM Igor Kovalenko |
| Shymkent Nomads |  |
Zhuban Bigabylov |
| Norway Gnomes |  |
GM Magnus Carlsen |
| Amaravati Yodhas |  |
Dhulipalla Prasad |
Teams are still recruiting talented players. Because of the rating cap (the average team rating each week must be below 2500, although 2700+ players only count as 2700), these grandmasters may be less important to their team's success than the numerous young talents signed to the various rosters.
We'll be announcing a flurry of additional team rosters, the schedule, complete rules, and loads of other details soon. Stay tuned via the official club and Facebook page!
Read up on everything you need to know about the PRO Chess League:
I'm the VP of Chess and Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2014, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.
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