The ESL, the global leader in competitive gaming, announced today that the $100,000 Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm by Blizzard Entertainment will be a winner takes all tournament. This competition format is unprecedented for an event of this caliber and the $100,000 for the winner will be the largest cash prize given to a single player in the history of the ESL.
The event, scheduled to take place on March 13-16, 2014 in Katowice, Poland, will be the conclusion of the 8th season of the Intel Extreme Masters, the elite global pro gaming tour. Sixteen of the world’s best StarCraft II players determined through competition in Shanghai, New York City, Singapore, Sao Paulo, and Cologne will be invited for an all expenses paid trip to compete in a single elimination bracket.
"Every season the IEM was one of the hardest tournaments to win all year. In 2014 we would like to take it to a new level of extreme. True champions are born when they express their talent in the most extreme situations," said Michal Blicharz, Managing Director of Pro Gaming at ESL. "We wanted to create the most high-pressure tournament this audience has ever seen."
With two events still to be played in the Intel Extreme Masters season, the players that have qualified to compete for the $100,000 so far are:
- Kim "Revival" Dong Hyun (winner IEM Shanghai)
- Kim "Oz" Hak Soo (runner up IEM Shanghai)
- Lee "Life" Seung Hyun (winner IEM New York City)
- Johan "naniwa" Lucchesi (runner up IEM New York City)
- Kim "herO" Joon Ho (winner IEM Singapore)
- Kang "san" Cho Won (runner up IEM Singapore)
The remaining tournaments of the season will take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil on January 29 to February 1 and Cologne, Germany on February 13-16. The top two players from each of those events will also qualify for the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship. The remaining six slots will be awarded via invitations and open qualifiers.
The Intel Extreme Masters World Championship will take place in Spodek, a 11,500 capacity indoor arena typically used for sports events and music concerts in Katowice, Poland. 50,000 eSports fans are expected to visit the venue over the weekend to experience eSports at the highest level and have a hands on experience with the latest gaming technology at exhibits of companies like Intel, Kingston HyperX and BenQ. The event will be the 50th Intel Extreme Masters event. Until today the circuit has given out over US$3,500,000 in prize money.
For more information on both previous and upcoming tournaments, please visit the tournament's official webpage.
