Intel Grand Slam is an in-game series that was first launched by the tournament operators ESL and DreamHack in 2017. As the series is known for its specific rules and not each season is paired with the calendar timetable of championships.
Taking into account the considerable prize pool of $1,000,000 given to the winners in golden bars, loads of major teams dream about winning the Intel Grand Slam and put their name down in history of the discipline.
The main goal of creating Intel Grand Slam was to reward the strongest teams who managed to perform at a high pace for a very long time. Despite the initial rules, the format changed almost every season, creating even more obstacles for participants.
However, the Intel Grand Slam still remains the most prestigious in the discipline, competing itself to majors in terms of importance.
The history of how Intel Grand Slam appeared with all the winners
As a response to the growing quantity of championships on stage the tournament operator ESL, who was tightly collaborating with DreamHack, announced the launch of the Intel Grand Slam series in 2017.
The original rules implied absence of four wins of one team at ESL or DreamHack tournaments. As soon as a team puts the fourth tournament into their pocket, they automatically become the winner of an Intel Grand Slam season.
The first season of the Intel Grand Slam started in the summer 2017 with the ESL One: Cologne 2017. The best teams in the world had been fighting with each other for a year and half till the Danish players from Astralis came into play. As a result, the team made its path with a victory at the DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 in April, got the ESL Pro League Season 7 - Finals, the Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Chicago and the ESL Pro League Season 8 - Finals into their pocket to become the first owners of the cherished million dollars in December 2018.
The next season of the Intel Grand Slam started in February with Astralis’ victory at the Intel Extreme Masters XIII - Katowice Major 2019. However, at that moment the stage became a venue for the turning point, having put an emphasis on Team Liquid. Consequently, the North American team managed to do impossible, having won four major tournaments in a row and conquering the second season of the Intel Grand Slam in record two months.
The third season of Intel Grand Slam started in the summer 2019 but the series was suspended at the beginning of the next year because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the crucial moment of the season was NAVI’s victory at the Intel Extreme Masters XIV - World Championship which initiated history.
A year later ESL resumed the season of Intel Grand Slam. But if the first tournaments after the return were won by Astralis, Gambit Esports and Heroic, in spring the team asserted themselves. As a result, NAVI succeeded in winning the DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, the Intel Extreme Masters XVI - Cologne and the ESL Pro League Season 14 to become the third winner at the Intel Grand Slam at the beginning of autumn.
The fourth season of Intel Grand Slam started at the end of 2021 and is still going. At the moment the main contender for victory is FaZe Clan who have to win only one of the next four ESL championships.
What tournaments qualify for the Intel Grand Slam series?
Taking into account the changing rules, at the moment there are only two tournament series that you can see in the the Intel Grand Slam timetable:
- ESL Pro League
- Intel Extreme Masters
No doubt, if ESL gets the right to host a major, these championships will also be included in the Intel Grand Slam timetable. The DreamHack Masters had become an exception as the tournament operator left the stage two years ago and went into the shadows of ESL for good.
Rules of Intel Grand Slam
In the previous season of the Intel Grand Slam by the tournament operator ESL made up the following statements that were applicable during the whole season:
- The results of the previous season are not counted in the new classification. Therefore, each season discharges all previous merits of participants.
- Teams are allowed to change players between tournaments but the core of the same players have to win four finals together to gain the right to participate in the Intel Grand Slam.
- If a player leaves a team but earlier they participated in the Intel Grand Slam series as a member of a different team, they do not have the right to get a prize if their team did not become the winner of the season.
- If a team that is going to complete the season of the Intel Grand Slam loses at the final of their last tournament, the opponents get an extra $100,000 as a reward. The only exception to the rule is the case when the team refuses to complete the Intel Grand Slam but complete it at the same final.
Becoming the winner of an Intel Grand Slam Season is possible only in one case — victory at three championships of the ESL Pro Tour Masters and one major tournament (Katowice, Cologne or an ESL major) during ten consecutive events.
