The PRO Chess League Finals will be played on Sept. 25-27. While the coronavirus makes live finals impossible this year, it doesn’t prevent three days of exciting, top-level chess as the season’s semifinals, third-place match, and finals get underway with live expert commentary. Chess fans from all over the world will be looking forward to the final weekend of September as it’s the culmination of the fourth season of the Professional Rapid Online (PRO) Chess League in 2020. When the playoffs ended in March of this year, the four teams that qualified for the finals were the Saint Louis Arch Bishops, the Armenia Eagles, the Canada Chessbrahs, and the China Pandas. For the semifinals on Friday, Sept. 25, the Eagles face the Chessbrahs while the Arch Bishops play the Pandas. The two losing teams will then face each other on Saturday, Sept. 26, for their fight for third place, while the big final is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 27.
Teams haven’t identified their players yet. A complete preview will be posted in the Chess.com news section when the lineups are known. If the squad from St. Louis can enlist top GMs Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Leinier Dominguez, it should be considered the favorite for clinching their third title, after having won in 2017 and 2019. The Armenia Eagles won the competition in 2018. The four finalists will be competing for a $40,000 prize fund with $20,000 going to the winner.
The finals were originally planned to be held on-site in Norway, but sadly ChessParty 2020 had to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The players will be playing from home instead; otherwise, there will be no changes to the format.