1WL Rules and regulations 2026

WHAT'S NEW FOR 2026

Changes for the 2026 season (for admins who are already familiar with the League's rules)

• In divisions with three or more groups only group winners advance to the Finals.

For more information, please see complete rules below.

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LEAGUE DESCRIPTION

The ONE WORLD League (1WL) aims to promote fair and healthy competitions between chess clubs with a minimum of rules and regulations.

Please note: There aren't any rules to restrict players, club admins or the relation between them.

The League offers opportunities for clubs to play in one or all of the following levels: 1WL Continental Championships and 1WL World Cup Challengers (standard chess without rating limits, 1st Sundays from December to June), 960 OPEN and 960 U1400 (2nd Sundays from December to June), U1800, U1600, U1400, U1200, U1000 (standard chess, 3rd and 4th Sundays from December to August), Grand Prix and OPEN divisions (standard chess, 1st Sundays – from June-November).

Please check the list of other tournaments on League's start page.

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REGISTRATION OF CLUBS

An admin of each participating club must join the ONE WORLD League and register the club in the division's forum. It is the admin's responsibility to track relevant forums and act on demand.

Decisions about registrations will be made by the admins of the ONE WORLD League.

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LEAGUE STRUCTURE

At each rating level, there will be multiple divisions. In each division, teams will generally play a round robin tournament in divisions with six clubs (up to eight clubs for Chess960, up to ten clubs for divisions with rating limits). At the end of each season, the top third of each division will promote to a higher division (if available) and the bottom third will relegate to a lower division (if available). Fractions will be rounded down to the largest whole number (e.g. in a division of 8 teams, 2 would promote and 2 would be relegated).

Divisions with more clubs will be divided in subdivisions/groups. If there are two groups first two clubs from both groups will advance to the Finals as soon as possible and will play against the two first clubs from the other group (their previous result against each other still counts). If there are three or more groups only winners will advance to Finals. If more appropriate, large divisions can also be organized as Swiss system tournaments.

Detailed descriptions for additional tournaments will be posted in their tournaments' forums.

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PAIRINGS / MATCH PARAMETERS

Tournament pairings and match parameters will be announced in each division's forum.

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MATCH CHALLENGES AND REGISTRATIONS OF PLAYERS

Clubs with @OneWorldLeague as coordinator will get their matches opened without any obligation for their club admins (if possible). Clubs without @OneWorldLeague as coordinator need to send and report their challenges within three days. If not, they will risk to forfeit their matches. If receiving challenges they need to accept them and report these open matches within three days.

Detailed description (for clubs without @OneWorldLeague as coordinator): Once pairings are announced (normally sixteen days before the match will start), either club can initiate a challenge within three days, using the defined Match Name provided in the forum (it's just optional to add club names). Once the challenge is reported in the division's form the challenged club will have three more days to accept the challenge (or to send its own challenge in the event that the original challenge was incorrect).

A club that has issued a correct challenge that has been declined or not accepted within three days (after having been reported in the forum) can claim a win after providing a link and/or screenshot of its correct challenge in the division's forum.

League administrators can instruct club administrators how to deal with challenges (e.g. to avoid or reduce interferences or in the event of challenge issues). Administrators who do not act accordingly risk personal limitations and/or disqualification of their club.

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RESULTS AND TIE-BREAKS

A match will be scored as follows: 1 point for a win, 0 for a loss, and 0.5 for a draw.

In case of adjudication rules will be applied analogously.

Generally Sonneborn-Berger is first tiebreaker in round robin divisions. Buchholz in Swiss system divisions. If needed, the total number of accumulated board points (or the point ratio in divisions without a max. number of players) will be used as second tiebreaker.

If a team has failed to meet the minimum number of players before the start time, Chess.com will abort the match and it will be counted as lost by this club (for those aborted matches you don't need to claim a win). If Chess.com doesn't abort the match please refer to Rules 2023.

Clubs, which fail for a second time to fulfill their requirements will no longer be paired.

The general policy of the ONE WORLD League is to avoid interference in the flow of conversation and discussion between members. Members are expected to interact with each other in respectful and appropriate ways. In cases of inappropriate and disrespectful behavior, League administrators can take action including "muting" the participant(s) involved, allowing them to participate in the League but without comments. If further instances of inappropriate or disrespectful behavior occur, the participant(s) involved can be expelled from the League.

Any situation not covered by these rules will be decided at the discretion of ONE WORLD League's admins.