Here are some questions and answers that people ask when they start playing in the league.
Can I play in both Red and Blue leagues?
Yes – we have several players who take part in both.
How do I know who to play each month?
The league administrator will send you an email, usually on the 1st of the month, listing who is playing in which division for the coming month. You will be expected to play a match against all the other players in your division.
How many matches will I be expected to play each month?
You will usually be asked to play 3-5 matches each month.
What is a match?
Each match consists of two games against the same opponent: one where you play as white, the other where you play as black.
Do I have to play every month?
No – you can drop out of the league, then rejoin a month or more later. It is quite common for players to take short breaks like this. We will always assume that you are available to play in the following month, so email the league administrator if you wish to take a break.
How do I arrange a match?
The monthly email will contain the email and phone number for the players in your division. Players are responsible for contacting each other in order to arrange the matches.
What is the deadline for completing matches?
Matches should be played by midday on the last day of the month..
What about the summer holiday period?
As people tend to be less available during the summer months, we often run larger divisions spanning 2 months. This gives the players more time to arrange the matches around holidays. This will be detailed in the monthly email sent out by the league administrator.
What if we can’t arrange a match?
You will usually score 0 points for any uncompleted game. However, if you can show that you repeatedly tried to arrange a match but the other player was unable to play you before the end of the month, you will score 0.5 points for each un-played game.
How do we play a match?
You both login to chess.com at the time you have agreed. One of you issues a Challenge to the other, specifying the correct time control (10+0 for the Red league, 15+10 for Blue). You can issue a challenge from the Members or Friends pages. Chess.com will randomly allocate who plays which colour for the first game. To play the second game, one of you clicks the Rematch button, so that you swap colours for that game.
It is easier to find each other if you have become ‘friends’ on chess.com before the match. Go to the Members page, search for your opponent’s chess.com id (listed in the monthly email), and click on the Add Friend icon next to the player’s account. They will need to ‘accept’ that friend request.
How do I report the result?
You don’t need to report the result, as we have software that automatically downloads the league games from chess.com and creates the division tables. The administator may contact you if there is a query about the match which our software cannot resolve.
Where can I find the results?
League results are published on the Blog page on this web site Blog. That page includes results from previous months, as well as the current one.
How is the league table calculated?
You get 1 point for each game you win, and 0.5 points for each game you draw. If a game is not played, neither player scores any points. If two players score the same number of points, we then look at who beat who. (Also see What if we can’t arrange a match? above.)
How are players allocated to divisions?
At the start of each month, players will be allocated to divisions according to their results from the previous month. Two players are usually promoted and relegated from each division, or just one if the division is small. If we need to separate two players who are tied on points and who beat who, the league administrator will toss a coin to decide who is promoted or relegated.
This gets more complicated if players are joining or leaving the league in the new month. In that case, the administrator will decide how to allocate players to divisions as best he can, as well as how promotion and relegation should be managed. We use the principle that new, or rejoining, players should be placed in a division which matches their skill level, as defined by their current rapid rating on chess.com.