Magnus Carlsen will face Vaishali and Vidit as Week 2 of the Pro Chess League begins with the Canada Chessbrahs facing the Indian Yogis. Fabiano Caruana is among the players making his 2023 debut, for the Saint Louis Arch Bishops, while Hikaru Nakamura will be back after dramatically losing to WGM Josefine Heinemann in Week 1.

When the World Champion visits your chess club...

The goal for the teams in the 16-team Pro Chess League is clear — win three matches and qualify directly for the 8-team Playoffs. A team losing three matches, meanwhile, is immediately eliminated.

We’re only in Week 2, so that no-one is going to qualify or be knocked out just yet. You can check out all the games using the selector below.

The week kicks off with the Canada Chessbrahs against the Indian Yogis at 16:30 CET (7:30 am PT, 21:00 IST).

World Champion Magnus Carlsen will face IM Vaishali, IM Aronyak Ghosh, GM Raunak Sadhwani and finally Vidit as he aims to preserve his perfect record.

We covered just how close Magnus was to losing to Awonder Liang in Week 1, when the Chessbrahs would instead have lost to the Charlotte Cobras. Magnus was playing from Toronto, Canada, where he and the team paid a visit to a local chess club.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the other memorable moments from Week 1.

Josefine Heinemann beats Hikaru Nakamura

The single most memorable game of Week 1 was a shock victory for 25-year-old German WGM Josefine Heinemann over Hikaru Nakamura.

The game had turned on what appeared at first sight a mouse-slip, 23…Qf6?, inviting 24.Bg5!

Hikaru explained, however, that he was going for glory, or at least a “meme”, with 24…Rxg5 25.hxg5 Qxg5 26.Qxe4 Nef4.

Black would be winning, if not for the defence Josefine found of 27.Ne3! Qh4 28.Nf1! and everything is covered. “Dear YouTube, I’m a Moron” was the title of Hikaru’s video about the game.

He recovered to score 3/3 in the remaining games, however, as the Gotham Knights beat the Berlin Bears 9:7.

There was another potential sensation that didn’t quite materialise, as 18-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala was a move away from taking down Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.

Gawain Jones pulls off unlikely win, Hammer loses it

Two matches went to a blitz playoff in Week 1. One of those saw Alexander Grischuk beat Arjun Erigaisi as Blitz overcame Team MGD1, while in the other match the Spanish Maniac Shrimps seemed sure to beat the Norway Gnomes until the worst-timed mouse-slip you’ll ever see.

As Gawain Jones confessed, he would probably have resigned if his opponent just delayed his move slightly here. Instead after 40…Rf2?? 41.Kxf2 Gawain had picked up a free rook and went on to win the game and match.

Norway Gnomes team captain Jon Ludvig Hammer’s live commentary was epic!

Another similarly painful incident saw Bogdan-Daniel Deac blitz out 41…Bxe4?? when after 41.Nxb4 all he had to do to win the game was queen his a-pawn. Instead Dariusz Swiercz could take the pawn and win the game, as the California Unicorns went on to beat the Croatia Bulldogs.

Wei Yi is the MVP

The only player who matched Magnus Carlsen’s 4/4 in Week 1 was China's Wei Yi, who scored particularly crushing wins against Benjamin Bok and Leinier Dominguez as the Shanghai Tigers defeated the Saint Louis Arch Bishops 10:6.

Saint Louis bring in Fabiano Caruana, Varuzhan Akobian and Rochelle Wu for Week 2, when they take on Arjun Erigaisi’s Team MGD1, while the Shanghai Tigers take on the might of Blitz, with Alexander Grischuk, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Kateryna Lagno. Lagno vs. Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun will be the top all-female match-up of the week.

Tune into all the action from 16:30 CET (7:30 am PT, 21:00 IST) on Tuesday, with the 2nd match of the day starting when that finishes at around 19:00 CET. There are also two matches on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with all 16 teams in action.

Watch the Pro Chess League!

See also:

• Watch all the Pro Chess League games
• Carlsen and Giri play for Chessbrahs in Pro Chess League
• Carlsen swindle gives Chessbrahs Pro Chess League win