In the previous editions of the Pro Chess League, before the start of the regular season, a qualifier tournament was held in which new teams (together with teams got relegated) fought for the spot in the Pro Chess League. When Chess.com announced the new format of the Pro Chess League 2020<\/a>, they decided to remain faithful to this tradition (despite other major changes).<\/p>\n On 16. November 2020., Pro Chess League Qualifier for the season 2020 was held. The tournament was invitational and a total of 8 teams got the opportunity to participate:<\/p>\n The format was as follows: each team consisted of four players sorted on four boards on the basis of their classical ELO rating. Every player was to play against all other players on the corresponding board (meaning player on the first board was to play 7 games against other first boards, the player on the second board against other second boards, etc.). Each player’s score was added up to the total team score. After 7 rounds, the two best teams were to play against each other once again and after the final, 8th round (and tiebreaks, if necessary), the winner would be determined.<\/p>\n The tournament was played on chess.com. The tempo for the regular rounds was 10 minutes plus 2 additional seconds per move, while in the tiebreak it was 3 minutes plus 2 additional seconds per move.<\/p>\n The stakes at the tournament were very high. Chess.com envisioned that only one team out of eight would qualify for the upcoming Pro Chess League season. Not only that: since the new format of the Pro Chess League doesn’t envision relegation of the teams, the winner of the tournament was very likely to qualify for several Pro Chess League Seasons.<\/p>\n The players were, of course, all aware of that and it told on their play. From the games, it is apparent that they were very nervous. The tournament was full of amazing swindles, big blunders and miraculous saves of lost positions and it was incredibly dramatic, tense, close and nail-biting.<\/p>\n In the end, it was decided only after the blitz tiebreak. I am incredibly happy that our team Croatia Bulldogs emerged as the surprising winner.<\/p>\n Round by round report follows.<\/p>\n At the Pro Chess League Qualifier 2020, Croatia Bulldogs assembled the following rooster:<\/p>\n Even though he brought a lineup without a single International Master, the team manager Vjekoslav Nemec was trying to maintain his optimism. He did think his players are somewhat underrated and that the fact they are all young and experienced in online chess might play turn out to be an important factor.<\/p>\n In hindsight, it turned out he was very much right. But when the teams were first announced and when he saw the strong, full-GM-stacked lineups of the Azeri and Latvian teams, his optimism was shaken. It was easy to hope but difficult (if not impossible) to expect that four young IMs will be able to come ahead of the teams consisting of names such as Igor Kovalenko or Rauf Mamedov.<\/p>\n But it did happen. In the remainder of the post we will describe how exactly that happened and will take you through our journey through the Pro Chess League Qualifier 2020.<\/p>\n In the very first round, we got paired against San Diego Surfers and with the great start – 3\/4 – already announced this might be “our” tournament. On the very first board, Minh Le managed to extricate himself from the difficult position and checkmate his opponent GM Michael Brown<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n
Croatia Bulldogs at the Pro Chess League Qualifier 2020 \u2013 Round by Round Report<\/h2>\n
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Round 1: Croatia Bulldogs vs. San Diego Surfers<\/a><\/h3>\n