MVL, Nakamura Headline PRO Chess League All-Stars Sept. 8

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura are the biggest names in the first ever All Stars event of the PRO Chess League. The 2018 season's final event is set for September 8.

You'll surely remember the hard-fought victory of the Armenia Eagles in the PRO Chess League finals earlier this year in San Francisco—but that was not all. A last, final event on September 8 will close the season with more great chess!

The inaugural PRO Chess League All Stars event gives fans the chance to see their favorites play one more time in an exciting elimination format, with a $5,000 prize fund. 

The event will take place on the Chess.com live server, with a live broadcast with commentary by GM Eric Hansen and IM Danny Rensch  on Chess.com/TV and Twitch.tv/Chess.

So how were the players selected?

Three players from each division were chosen by league officials based on their play throughout the 2018 season. A fourth player from each division was chosen by fan vote.

Two of the most recent 'competitors' in the Speed Chess Championship will now be teammates, as Vidit Gujarathi and Zaven Andriasyan look to win the first PCL All Stars for the Eastern Division.

So, all four divisions have a four-player team for a total of 16 players competing in the all-star tournament. The following PRO Chess League All Stars have confirmed their participation:

PCL All Stars | Participants

Fed	Name		Team	Division
	Hrant Melkumyan		Armenia Eagles	Eastern
	Zaven Andriasyan		Armenia Eagles	Eastern
	Georg Meier		Stockholm Snowballs	Central
	Anton Smirnov		Australia Kangaroos	Pacific
	Alexandr Shimanov		Webster Windmills	Atlantic
	Gawain Jones		London Towers	Central
	Luka Lenic		Ljubljana Turtles	Central
	Alexey Dreev		San Diego Surfers	Pacific
	Abhijeet Gupta		Delhi Dynamite	Eastern
	Maxime Vachier Lagrave		Marseille Migraines	Central
	Alex Lenderman		Montclair Sopranos	Atlantic
	Vidit Gujrathi		Mumbai Movers	Eastern
	Hikaru Nakamura		Seattle Sluggers	Pacific
	Eduardo Iturrizaga		Miami Champions	Atlantic
	Le Quang Liem		Webster Windmills	Atlantic
	Jeffery Xiong		Dallas Destiny	Pacific

Xiong, a late substitution for Yu Yangyi, looks to make Dallas proud for the Pacific Division.

The All Stars tournament will begin with a round-robin where every player plays one game against everyone from the other three teams, for a total of 12 games. After this, a series of elimination matches starts that eventually leads to the winner. More details about the format can be found here.

Note that the 2019 season will be kicked off on November 3 with the big qualifier tournament for any team that did not earn an automatic spot in last year's regular season! This will be a 15-round Swiss with 3|2 blitz games. For entering your team for the 2019 season, find the qualifier rules here.

Stay in touch with PRO Chess League news and connect with fans all year long: Join the official PCL Club here!

Who will you be rooting for in the PRO Chess League all-star tournament? Let us know in the comments and be sure to tune in on at Chess.com/TV or Twitch.tv/Chess.