FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Chess.com to hold first-ever chess esports event for PRO Chess League live finals exclusively on Twitch.

San Francisco, Feb. 26. 2018—The world's best chess players will travel to San Francisco to compete in a live championship organized by Chess.com and Twitch, the companies announced today. This epic event will be the culmination of Chess.com's Professional Rapid Online (PRO) Chess League, a groundbreaking, season-long competition with the world's top chess players representing international regions. The two-day event kicks off at 10 a.m. on April 7 at the Folsom Street Foundry and will also be live-broadcast exclusively on Chess.com’s Twitch channel (twitch.tv/chess).

Editor's Note: Looking for information about coming to the event? Click here!

The 2018 season of the PRO Chess League features 32 teams of chess players from around the world, headlined by the world chess champion, Magnus Carlsen, star of the Norway Gnomes franchise. The former world champion Vishy Anand represents the Mumbai Movers, and two of the top American chess players—Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura—lead teams in the league.

The PRO Chess League is set to conclude its regular season on March 7, with playoff rounds on March 13 and 21 to determine the four teams qualifying for the live final, which will be co-produced by Chess.com and Twitch. The onsite chess master commentators will be Grandmaster Robert Hess, International Masters Daniel Rensch and Anna Rudolf, and Women's FIDE Master Alexandra Botez.

The final four PRO teams in the seasonal playoffs will gather at the Folsom Street Foundry, a historic esports venue, to play the league semifinals and finals on April 7-8 in a live, digital format, with a large audience, chess master commentators, and the broadcast technology now common to the world's largest esports events.

“Based on the high level of engagement around chess content from Twitch’s global community, being able to partner with Chess.com to produce this major competition will give the fans a new way to look at the sport,” said Justin Dellario, Director of Esports Programs, Twitch. “This event marks the first time that the world's most-played board game and one of its oldest, will follow a production format most closely associated with esports tournaments.”

Fans of the final four teams will be welcome free of charge at the Folsom Street Foundry to watch the championship weekend, with spectators admitted to the venue as space allows.

Twitch is the leader in live-streamed gaming content which includes the largest esports and competitive gaming events from around the world.

Chess.com is the world's largest chess site, with millions of games played each day and the strongest online chess tournaments ever held.

For more information on the 2018 PRO Chess League, including schedule, results, and team standings, visit www.ProChessLeague.com.

Contact:

Simon McNamara

Director of Professional Relations, Chess.com

e-mail: simon@chess.com

phone: (800) 318-2827

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