Intel Extreme Masters

Cologne, January 26, 2011 – The Electronic Sports League (ESL) has successfully organised the European Championship of the Intel Extreme Masters season V, the global league of the video game champions. The event took place on January 20 - 23, 2011 at the Kiev Cyber Sport Arena in Ukraine. The best players from Europe competed for their share of 79,000 US Dollar in prize purse and slots in the nearest World Championship which will take place at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany, this March. The competition was held in three disciplines: Counter-Strike 1.6, Starcraft 2 and Quake Live. The event attracted 1,000 visitors in the Arena in Kiev as well as tens of thousands of viewers on our streams on ESL TV, the ESL's web-TV service.

The overall standings are as follows:

Counter-Strike 1.6:

1. Place: Fnatic ($20,000 and a slot in the World Championship)

2. Place: mTw ($9,500 and a slot in the World Championship)

3. Place: Frag eXecutors ($5,500 a slot in the World Championship)

Additional teams which qualified in Kiev for the World Championship 2011:

- Natus Vincere

- Lions

- MeetYourMakers

- TCM Gaming

- SK Gaming

Quake Live:

1. Place: Anton 'Cooller' Singov ($4,000 and a slot in the World Championship)

2. Place: Maciej 'av3k' Krzykowski ($2,000 and a slot in the World Championship)

3. Place: Kevin 'Strenx' Baeza ($1,150 and a slot in the World Championship)

Additional players who qualified in Kiev for the World Championship 2011:

- Alexey 'Cypher' Yanushevsky

- Pelle 'fazz' Söderman

- Sebastian 'Spart1e' Siira

Starcraft 2:

1. Place: Jeffrey 'SjoW' Brusi ($7,500 and a slot in the World Championship)

2. Place: Oleksiy 'White-Ra' Krupnyk ($3,500 and a slot in the World Championship)

3. Place: Benjamin 'DeMusliM' Baker ($1,800)

Additional players who qualified in Kiev for the World Championship 2011:

- Tomasz 'Tarson' Boron

"The results of the Intel Extreme Masters V European Championship prove that hosting the event in Kiev was an excellent choice, with several medals going to players from Eastern European countries," said Michal Blicharz, the Project Manager at Turtle Entertainment. "The response locally from the fans was amazing and our broadcasts beat all possible records," he added.

After the events in Shanghai, Cologne, New York and Kiev, the league will have its spectacular final at CeBIT 2011 in Hanover in Germany at the beginning of March. World's best professional gamers will compete with each other for high prize money and the World Champion title.

Intel Extreme Masters

The Intel® Extreme Masters is the global league of eSports champions since 2006. The league arranges the hardest and most popular competitions in Counter-Strike, StarCraft 2 and QuakeLive. eSports champions from Europe, Asia and America struggle for $400,000 in prize money - the most lucrative prize purse globally. Live tournaments at the worlds largest IT- and Gaming conventions feature the top performers of the season - global stars in eSports. The league will have its exciting final on CeBIT 2011, finding the top teams and players in the Intel® Extreme Masters World Championship.ESL's web-TV service, ESL TV, presents the best games of the season live and reports directly from the live events.

Further information about the Intel Extreme Masters at www.intelextrememasters.com

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All links at a glance:

- Further information about the Intel Extreme Masters European Championship at: www.esl-world.net/masters/season5/kiev

- High resolution photos from the event at www.turtle-entertainment.com/Dateien/IEM5_Kiev_photos.zip

- Videos from the event at www.youtube.com/IntelExtremeMasters

- VODs of the European Championship matches at http://tv.esl.eu/de/vod/

- The ESL profiles of the winners:

Team Fnatic (CS1.6) www.esl-world.net/masters/season5/kiev/cs/playoffs/team/2094545/

Anton 'Cooller' Singov (QL) www.esl-world.net/masters/season5/kiev/quakelive/playoffs/player/4061525/

Jeffrey 'SjoW' Brusi (SC2) www.esl-world.net/masters/season5/kiev/sc2/playoffs/player/969729/

- Further information about the Intel Extreme Masters at: www.intelextrememasters.com

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Contact:

Turtle Entertainment GmbH

Press office

Ibrahim Mazari

Siegburger Straße 189

50679 Cologne

Tel. +49 221 880449-231

Cell +49 163 5196461

Fax. +49 221 880449-239

www.turtle-entertainment.de

presse@turtle-entertainment.de