Chicago Claims First-Ever Championship Gaming Series North American Crown

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on July 31, 2007

Satellite

Galaxy 25C (97ºW)

Transponder 07

Downlink 3840 (Vertical)

36MHz

Times

6:00 am EST and 11:00 am EST

Manhattan Beach, CA - In a nail-biting title match and in front of a boisterous crowd, the Chicago Chimera trumped the Carolina Core 22-21 in the Championship Gaming Series ( www.thecgs.com) North American final, broadcast live and in HD on DIRECTV's The 101.

For Chicago, who precariously held pole position in the league standings through most of the league season, victory did not come easy. Falling behind 12-4 on defeats to Carolina in DOA female (2-5), FIFA (0-2) and DOA male (5-2), Chicago appeared to be giving the final away.

But the Chimera found its footing in Counter-Strike, running away with a 13-5 romp over the Core to pull even with a 17-all team score.

Waiting in the wings all night was the dominant force of Wesley "Ch0mpr" Cwiklo and Jason "Jason X" Exelby, the dynamic PGR duo. Carolina's Brent "Rex" Dimapilis did his best to run Cwiklo off the road early in the race, but the 18-year old from Camarillo, CA slipped through to finish first, giving Chicago the championship.

"I thought we were out of it," confided Chicago GM, Brian Flander. "But our Counter-Strike guys really showed up for us tonight and the PGR team finished it off. This is just unbelievable."

Cwiklo and Exelby were voted the league MVPs.

Chicago Chimera receives an additional $100,000 team bonus on top of their salaries for the win and their overall record improves to 10-4. Both teams go on to the global finals to be held in Los Angeles this November.

Final Scores:

DEAD OR ALIVE - FEMALE

Katherine "Mystik" Gunn (CAR) 5

Marjorie "Kasumi Chan" Bartell (CHI) 2

FIFA

Nick "Peekay" DePalmer (CAR) 2

Andrew "Anomaly" Brock (CHI) 0

DEAD OR ALIVE 4 - MALE

Ryan "Offbeat Ninja" Ward (CAR) 5

Jeremy "Black Mamba" Florence (CHI) 2

COUNTER-STRIKE

Chicago 13