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 first 9 byes will count as ½ of a point. Remaining missed games will count as 0 points.

League Prizes

Team Prizes

Plaques to:

  • Top 8 teams overall
  • Top 2 small companies (under 500 employees)
  • Top technology company
  • Top insurance company
  • Top real estate company
  • Top HR firm
  • Top non-profit organization
  • Top bank/financial firm

Individual Prizes

Plaques to:

  • Top 10 Individuals
  • Top 3 Ratings 2000-2199
  • Top 3 Ratings 1800-1999
  • Top 3 Ratings 1600-1799
  • Top 3 Ratings 1400-1599
  • Top 3 Ratings 1200-1399
  • Top 3 Ratings 1000-1199
  • Top 3 Under 1000

Weekly Lessons