The schedule for the first Intel Extreme Masters event of the year, IEM Katowice, has been released.
Intel Extreme Masters will return to Katowice, Poland on March 1st-5th this year. Twelve participating teams will be split into two groups of six, playing in a round-robin, best-of-one format. The first two days of the event will witness group stage action, where all matches of a group will be played in a single day. The top teams from each group directly advance to the semi-finals, whilst teams that placed second and third will clash in the round-of-6 in attempt to advance to the semi-finals.
Contrary to the group stage, all matches will be best-of-three in the playoffs, except for the Grand Final match, which will see a best-of-five format. In addition, there won't be matches played simultaneously in the play-off stages. With teams such as Astralis, Virtus.pro and SK Gaming attending, the $250,000 tournament will surely be a stacked event.
Here are the groups and the schedule for Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2017:
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
 Astralis |  Virtus.pro |
 FaZe |  SK Gaming |
 OpTic | North |
 NiP | Cloud9 |
| fnatic |  Natus Vincere |
| Immortals | Heroic |
Wednesday, March 1st - Group stage (Group A)
11:00 - OpTic vs. Astralis
11:00 - NiP vs. fnatic
12:15 - NiP vs. Astralis
12:15 - FaZe vs. Immortals
13:30 - OpTic vs. Immortals
13:30 - FaZe vs. fnatic
14:45 - Astralis vs. Immortals
14:45 - OpTic vs. fnatic
16:00 - NiP vs. FaZe
16:00 - Astralis vs. fnatic
17:15 - NiP vs. Immortals
17:15 - OpTic vs. FaZe
18:30 - Immortals vs. fnatic
18:30 - FaZe vs. Astralis
18:30 - OpTic vs. NiP
Thursday, March 2nd - Group stage (Group B)
11:00 - Natus Vincere vs. Virtus.pro
11:00 - Cloud9 vs. SK Gaming
12:15 - Natus Vincere vs. SK Gaming
12:15 - North vs. Heroic
13:30 - North vs. Virtus.pro
13:30 - Cloud9 vs. Heroic
14:45 - SK Gaming vs. Heroic
14:45 - Cloud9 vs. Virtus.pro
16:00 - Natus Vincere vs. North
16:00 - SK Gaming vs. Virtus.pro
17:15 - Cloud9 vs. North
17:15 - Natus Vincere vs. Heroic
18:30 - Heroic vs. Virtus.pro
18:30 - North vs. SK Gaming
18:30 - Cloud9 vs. Natus Vincere
Friday, March 3 - Round of 6
12:45 - Match #1
16:35 - Match #2
Saturday, March 4 - Semi-finals
12:30 - Semi-final Match #1
16:20 - Semi-final Match #2
Sunday, March 5 - Grand final
18:15 - Grand Final
Images courtesy of IEM
