Players in the same Chess League division can challenge others to a League match consisting of two chess games
(one playing as white and one as black) with the time control set to 3 days per move,
by clicking the "play" link located next to the opponent's user name. League challenges cannot be declined and
League games cannot be cancelled. Players with a vacation flag set for the their account cannot be challenged to a new League match.
The League score is calculated for each player as following:
+1 point for each win in a League game, 0 points for a draw, and -1 point for each lost game.
All League games affect player's chess rating as well, just like any other rated chess game.
If the opponents are in different divisions by the time the game is finished, the points are calculated as following:
Difference
Win
Loss
winner 1-2 divisions higher
+0.5
-0.5
winner 1-2 divisions lower
+2
-2
winner 3+ divisions higher
0
0
winner 3+ divisions lower
+5
-5
If a League game ends in a draw, the player from the lower division will be awarded +0.5 points and -0.5 points
will be given to the player from the higher division. If a player is no longer in the Chess League by the time the game ends,
they are considered to be in the same division from which they retired.
All players with 10 or more points will get promoted to the next higher division and players with -10 or less points will get
relegated to the next lower division. If a division has more than 30 players, top 5 players will also get promoted and
bottom 5 players will be relegated. In case a division has more than 60 players,
10 players will be promoted and 10 relegated. Only players with 3 or more completed League games can be promoted/relegated.
All promotions and relegations are performed once a week — on Sunday morning GameKnot local time (PST).
If two or more players have an equal League scores, the player who has been playing in the current division
the longest will get promoted/relegated before the others.
When joining the Chess League for the first time, players are assigned to the following divisions based on their rating:
below 1000 to E2, 1000-1199 to E1, 1200-1399 to D3, 1400-1599 to D2, 1600-1799 to D1, 1800-1999 to C3, 2000-2199 to C2, 2200+ to C1.
If a player retires from the Chess League, they can re-join the same division later on if they had a positive/zero League score,
or one division below if they had a negative score. If a player still has League games in progress after they retire from
the Chess League, their League score will continue to be affected by the remaining games.
Player's League score is reset to zero when they re-join the League.
Players are automatically removed from the League if they time out in 3 games in the current division
(to avoid further losses since League challenges cannot be declined).
Only players with an overall time-out percentage under 20% can join the League.