The 2018 PRO Chess League Season was the second season of the PRO Chess League. It began on January 17 and ended on April 8 with the Armenia Eagles defeating the Chengdu Pandas to claim their first title. [1] This season introduced new qualifications to join the league and an all-star game.
In order to combat the large league, Shahade decided to cut the league from 48 teams to 32 teams as he believed the inaugural season was "a bit too large and chaotic".In order to determine which teams would return, he used the following: [2] [3] [4]
The qualification tournament took place on November 3 with two qualifiers. The event format was a 13 round individual swiss (time control 3+2), with a team's score decided by summing the scores of their four team members. The top three teams from each qualifier automatically qualified, and the fourth to sixth placed teams were placed into a fan vote to decide the final qualifier. [5]
For 2018, the PCL introduced a new match format which allowed teams to play outside of their division. In these matches, each team played one single four-game match against eight other teams. The standings were decided on game points, with the top 6 teams being awarded a match win and teams finishing 7th-10th being awarded a match draw. In addition, the winning team was awarded a $500 bonus. [6] [7]
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The top four teams from each division qualify for the playoffs while the two worst teams are relegated from the league and will have to partake in the qualifiers in order to rejoin the league. [8]
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After the regular season, the top four teams from each division qualified for the playoffs with the teams being seeded 1–4 in their division. In addition, the teams that won their division were invited to play the final two round in San Francisco at the Folsom Street Foundry. [9] [10]
Division Semifinals March 13 | Division Championship March 21 | Semifinals April 7 San Francisco | PCL Championship April 8 San Francisco | ||||||||||||||||
E1 | ![]() | 10.5 | |||||||||||||||||
E4 | ![]() | 5.5 | |||||||||||||||||
E1 | ![]() | 8* | |||||||||||||||||
Eastern | |||||||||||||||||||
E3 | ![]() | 8 | |||||||||||||||||
E2 | ![]() | 7.5 | |||||||||||||||||
E3 | ![]() | 8.5 | |||||||||||||||||
E1 | ![]() | 8.5 | |||||||||||||||||
A3 | ![]() | 7.5 | |||||||||||||||||
A1 | ![]() | 7.5 | |||||||||||||||||
A4 | ![]() | 8.5 | |||||||||||||||||
A4 | ![]() | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
Atlantic | |||||||||||||||||||
A3 | ![]() | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
A2 | ![]() | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
A3 | ![]() | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
E1 | ![]() | 12*** | |||||||||||||||||
P2 | ![]() | 11 | |||||||||||||||||
P1 | ![]() | 5.5 | |||||||||||||||||
P4 | ![]() | 10.5 | |||||||||||||||||
P4 | ![]() | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
Pacific | |||||||||||||||||||
P2 | ![]() | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
P2 | ![]() | 8* | |||||||||||||||||
P3 | ![]() | 8 | |||||||||||||||||
P2 | ![]() | 9.5 | |||||||||||||||||
C4 | ![]() | 6.5 | |||||||||||||||||
C1 | ![]() | 7.5 | Third place match | ||||||||||||||||
C4 | ![]() | 8.5 | |||||||||||||||||
C4 | ![]() | 9.5 | A3 | ![]() | 9.5 | ||||||||||||||
Central | |||||||||||||||||||
C2 | ![]() | 6.5 | C4 | ![]() | 6.5 | ||||||||||||||
C2 | ![]() | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
C3 | ![]() | 7 |
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The 2018 All-Star Game was on September 8 with stage 1 and on September 9 for stage 2. The following event format was used. [12]
First round | Second round | Final | |||||||||||
1 | Pacific Division | 4 | |||||||||||
2 | Atlantic Division | 4 | 2 | Atlantic Division | 3 | ||||||||
3 | Central Division | 2 | 4 | Eastern Division | 2 | ||||||||
4 | Eastern Division | 4 | |||||||||||
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament.
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national champion.
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden-death tournament, is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion. Each match-up may be a single match or several, for example two-legged ties in European sports or best-of series in North American pro sports. Defeated competitors may play no further part after losing, or may participate in "consolation" or "classification" matches against other losers to determine the lower final rankings; for example, a third place playoff between losing semi-finalists. In a shootout poker tournament, there are more than two players competing at each table, and sometimes more than one progresses to the next round. Some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage, often called playoffs.
A Swiss-system tournament is a non-eliminating tournament format that features a fixed number of rounds of competition, but considerably fewer than for a round-robin tournament; thus each competitor does not play all the other competitors. Competitors meet one-on-one in each round and are paired using a set of rules designed to ensure that each competitor plays opponents with a similar running score, but does not play the same opponent more than once. The winner is the competitor with the highest aggregate points earned in all rounds. With an even number of participants, all competitors play in each round.
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are the games that make up the single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the league champion. Currently, seven teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs. A tie-breaking procedure exists if required. The tournament culminates in the Super Bowl: the league's championship game in which two teams, one from each conference, play each other to become champion of the NFL.
There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the single elimination, the best-of- series, the total points series more commonly known as on aggregate, and the round-robin tournament.
A wild card is a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that fails to qualify in the normal way; for example, by having a high ranking or winning a qualifying stage. In some events, wildcards are chosen freely by the organizers. Other events have fixed rules. Some North American professional sports leagues compare the records of teams which did not qualify directly by winning a division or conference.
The Page playoff system is a playoff format used primarily in softball and curling at the championship level, and the Indian Premier League and Pakistan Super League cricket tournaments. Teams are seeded using a round-robin tournament and the top four play a mix of a single-elimination and double-elimination tournament to determine the winner. It is identical to a four-team McIntyre system playoff, first used by the WANFL, SANFL and VFL in Australia in 1931, originally called the Page–McIntyre system, after the VFL delegate, the Richmond Football Club's Secretary, Percy "Pip" Page, who had advocated its use. A form has been adopted in the Canadian Premier League national soccer competition.
In sports, a bye is the preferential status of a player or team that is automatically advanced to the next round of a tournament without having to play an opponent in an early round.
In a group tournament, unlike a knockout tournament, there is no scheduled decisive final match. Instead, all the competitors are ranked by examining the results of all the matches played in the tournament. Typically, points are awarded for each match, with competitors ranked based either on total number of points or average points per match.
The Stanley Cup playoffs is the annual National Hockey League (NHL) elimination tournament to determine the league champion. The winner of the Stanley Cup is by default the NHL champion as well. Eight teams from each of the two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season points totals. The final round is commonly known as the Stanley Cup Finals, which matches the two conference champions.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs is the annual elimination tournament held to determine the league champion. The four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held after the league's regular season and its preliminary postseason tournament, the NBA play-in tournament. Six teams from each of the two conferences automatically advance to the playoffs based on regular season winning percentage, while those teams finishing 7 through 10 from each conference compete in the play-in tournament to determine the final two playoff seeds.
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