NACCL Format

Season Format

• Each Season is 6 weeks long with 3 games played each week - see schedule.
• All games played on chess.com - the world’s largest chess website.
• Pairings will be posted to this website and you will be linked directly to your game with one click! (just like it has been in previous seasons)
• The "time control" is 10 minutes with a 2-second increment (bonus) per move.
• This is a blended "individual/team" competition, not team vs team.
• Players are paired in an open section where rating, points scored, and team are considered. Players from the same company will not play each other.
• Minimum players per team: 4
• The standard team entry fee includes 15 spots on a team.
• Companies may open up an additional 7 spots on the team (total 22) for an additional half entry fee, or 15 spots (total 30) for an additional entry fee.
• There is an absolute maximum of 30 players per team.
• Companies may enroll multiple teams (Company A, Company B) if there are more than 30 players interested.
• The NACCL will require the top 10 boards to join a Zoom meeting to ensure fair play for the remaining rounds. They may join with a single camera.
• 12 half-point byes permitted at any weeks, but players must play at least 1 game during the whole season. Forfeited loss does not count as playing 1 game. Players will be removed if they do not play any single games up until week-5.
• Team Scores are calculated by combining the top 4 scorers from the same company. Tiebreakers are scores of #5 player, #6 player, #7 player, #8 player in their orders, and then sum of individual tiebreakers of top 4 players.

Knockout

• The top 8 teams in the 6 week season will qualify to a 1-day knockout. The winner of the knockout will be the NACCL season champion.
• The knockout will be team vs team (5 boards vs 5 boards), where 1-4 boards are the main boards, 5th board is the tiebreaker and they start at the same time.
• Teams may choose any 5 players from the first 6 weeks to represent their team in the knockout as long as they played at least 12/18 games. We will coordinate with final 8 team captains to let them submit the rosters.
• Board order will be determined by rating.
• Board 5 is the tiebreaker. Black will have less time and draw odds.
• The knockout will be streamed on Chess.com’s main Twitch channel.
• For details and the knockout bracket, visit this page.

League Rules

• Players who show up late may have their clock started at the set round times (8:00pm, 8:30pm, 9:00pm Eastern) or may be forfeited.
• Players who forfeit a game or fail to withdraw by 7:45pm will not receive any points for that week and will be removed from the rest of the night's game unless they inform us that they will play subsequent games.
• Players from the same team (company) will not be paired against each other.
• Similarly ranked players will be paired against each other based on ratings and standings.
• Byes are given to players who are unable to play certain games.
• The Final 8 (knockout) event does not affect individual standings or team standings below 8th place. However, it will impact team standings for positions #1–#8, including any top category placements within those teams.

League Prizes

Weekly Lessons

• During the season, there is a free weekly lecture with prominent and notable chess players and personalities.
• See season lecture schedule here.