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(#feedback-and-help on Discord) With the upcoming end to the first official season, we want to know your thoughts, as the players of the league, on what we could try to improve for future seasons, as well as if you have any questions, concerns, issues, or anything of that sort. Feel free to ask here!

For those of you that are new here and/or do not know what the 4PCL is or how it works, this guide is for you! The 4PCL is a series of matches played every weekend. Teams games are played on Saturday, while FFA games are played on Sunday. Each season will last 8 weeks, which means players will play 8 matches of FFA and 8 of Teams (depending on which ones they signed up for: if a player signs up for both, they will play 16 matches). Each match has one rematch, which means every match consists of 2 games. The time control for these games will be 5|10 (5 minute base time with 10 second increment), so plan accordingly, because the League requires a major time commitment. Teams matches can last for a while, around 1 to 1 and a half hours, while FFA matches may take up to 3 hours! For teams matches, players can choose their teammates. Teams can have up to 3 players (but we are deciding whether to increase that number to 5), so that, in case one of the players cannot make a game, the other players on the team can play the match instead. In fact, you can even play one game of a match and sub in another player on the team to play the second game of the match, because after all, it is your team! For FFA matches, players in the pool are randomly chosen and matched with other players. Points are scored as follows: 3 points for winning a game (not a full match), 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss. That means you can earn up to 6 points per match! You will be placed on the leaderboard based on how many points you have. At the end of the season, the top 8 teams will compete in the Teams Playoffs and the top 16 FFA players will compete in the FFA Playoffs to determine the winner of that season. Next season, players will be moved up or down divisions as deemed necessary. For now, this is all we've got. We'll let you all know if we have any more updates. This first season was pretty successful, and we're hoping on expanding the League even further. Feel free to ask any questions below. Looking forward to another great season!

Rules and Regulations Main Rules 1. Please follow the rules set by Chess.com:https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/rules-reporting 2. Please do not use chat during league games; you may say greetings like “gl hf (good luck and have fun)”, but please save anything you have to say for the end of the game. Do not discuss anything during games. Repeat offenders will be given Warnings and Game Suspensions. The only time you're allowed to chat during a game is if your game is set up incorrectly and needs to be restarted. 3. Everyone is at different levels – so please give constructive feedback, instead of insulting others. 4. FFA Rules: Do not reveal your color, reveal another player’s color, or impersonate another player. We also ask that you do not post insinuations and sarcasm. 5. Substitutions: Players may substitute in games during the season when needed. Priority will be given to players with the least number of games. If you exceed 16 games, the average of your games will be calculated. ( Points / Games x 16 ) 6. Show Sportsmanship in chat. Say “gg (good game)” after a game, whether or not you played well or if others played well. Discord Chat Rules 1. a. Please post your comments in the appropriate channel. You may be asked to move your comment or have your comment deleted if it is in the wrong place. b. You are allowed to post off-topic things in #general, however, please also consider DMing (direct/private messaging) the people you are talking to. 2. Please do not use Discord as an alternative place to Chess.com to vent (as discussed in Chat Rule 3 and 5) 3. a. Please do not needlessly ping @Officer or @4PC Admin. b. If it’s an issue with a ban from chess.com/variants, email 4pc@chess.com for admin support, or DM a Chess.com admin. c. If it’s an issue with a ban from the site, go to https://www.support.chess.com. If you would like help writing a complaint to support regarding an unjustified ban, you can DM @ChessMasterGS or @Matttin and they can try to help you. d. If it’s an issue with an Officer, DM @Radon and explain the situation. 4. Please do not spread misinformation about the league. (If you think you know something, double-check.) 5. Please do not harass @Officers for chess.com/variants server issues. Not even @4PC Admins can control this. Please also do not have heated conversations/flame wars over the starting position and time control. Etiquette Rules 1. a. Please do not resign at the start of the game because of your color or who you think your opposite is. b. FFA Game Rules - 1 point queen, Old Setup, Anonymous. You are encouraged to abort the game if you see an incorrect ruleset, and you will not be penalized. c. Teams Rule - The gamerules should be: QRBN, Old Setup, "Non-Anonymous". Likewise, you are encouraged to abort the game if you see an incorrect ruleset. Your team will not be penalized for this unless more than 2 moves have occurred. 2. Do not stall. Waiting 5 minutes before flagging or claiming win benefits nobody and does not make you look cool either. 3. Teams Rule - If you will miss a game, please reschedule with the opposite team and your partner, or have your substitute play in your place. 4. FFA Rule - If you will need to miss a game, please announce your forfeiture of the round 48 hours before the day of the league game. 5. a. Please do not spam the takeback button. b. Do not refresh your page multiple times to make the messages “[player color] disconnected” and “[player color] reconnected” spam the chat. 6. You are allowed to spam arrows and use them appropriately as you please to help you play, but please do not spell out inappropriate words or symbols using arrows. 7. Please state in chat if you will need a break (up to 5 minutes max ideally) in-between Game 1 and Game 2 in a round. Do not keep everyone waiting or go offline. 8. Please do not enable blindfold to taunt your opponents or to reveal your identity. Twitch Rules 1. a. Streamer Rule - During a game, change your chat type to emote-only, or instruct your chat moderators to delete any messages that suggest moves. b. Enabling a stream delay to counter stream sniping for the duration of the games would be encouraged. 2. Streamer / Player Rule - During a game, please do not join calls or talk in direct messages with anybody discussing moves. This is blatant cheating, frowned upon, and will lead to your removal from the League. Even if you are muted or have others on the call muted/are not discussing your game. Do not interact with any 3rd parties during your game. 3. Viewer Rule - In the case that a player streaming 4PCL does not have their chat restricted to emote-only, do NOT under any circumstance suggest moves. In other words, don’t kibitz. 4. Player / Viewer Rule - Do not attempt to gain an advantage by viewing a player’s stream during your game. In other words, don’t stream snipe.

We've been noticing a significant drop in 4PCL player activity this past season. We've tried some new things here and there, but nothing so drastically different that warrants such a sharp decline in the number of people interested in playing. We have 3 divisions now, which may be one of the major reasons. Last season, we only had one, so I guess that's why we had so many players. Nowadays we get at most 2/3 games in Division 1 being played, 1/3 in Division 2, and basically 0 games played in Division 3. So, what do you guys, the players, think is the issue? Is it the long time control? We can understand if you think the games take too long out of your weekend when you'd much rather be going outside or spending time with your family. Is it that there is no motivation from players to play their games? If so, why do you think so? Is it because you think we, as the organizers, are doing a poor job of organizing? If so, what do you think we can improve? These are just some of the reasons why we might be experiencing this all-time low in activity. All feedback and criticism is appreciated. After all, this is a League, for the players, by the players.

who'd be interested in a bullet 4pc league tc is probably going to be either 30 min or 10|15

CONGRATULATIONS to the top 32 qualifiers from the BY Arenas. https://www.chess.com/es/news/view/arena-tournament-by-setup-february-2023-1#Proposal This proposed BY League will run alongside the main FFA Leagues for 4 months showcasing the top 32 players from the eight Arenas. If you have qualified, we need to know if you wish to participate so we can schedule your games, or find a replacement for the Season, stay tuned for more info! Be sure to join the 4 Player Chess League so you can be added to the website, and join our Discord to receive schedules, updates, and much more: Discord - https://discord.gg/NGtpDVDrMs League Website - https://4playerchessleague.com/registration/ @Martinaxo #1 - Confirmed@NoWellOkay #2 - Confirmed@Slayer950 #3@visovac #4@lagodiComo #5 - Confirmed@NightLoveRaver #6@JonasRath #7@Riyon2012 #8 - Confirmed@KASTOUR #9@LosChess #10 - Confirmed@PRIYANSHU1015 #11 - Confirmed@ronarid10 #12@rojitto #13@Indipendenza #14 - Confirmed@yasmin-er-vatar #15@SuperBGNinja #16@LiquidFyre #17@Neoserbian #18@fearless3737 #19@Viggopetrus #20@Manvikbaidya4444233 #21@12345avengers #22@Eyes4pc #23@Cha_ChaRealSmooth #24@AaryaBhatt0123 #25@111111111111111111111111x #26@epfc1994 #27@torreXtorre #28@Mr5trategic #29@OstryMeg123 #30 - Confirmed@Pixlers #31@bestari3645 #32

So far, these are the 16 players that have signed up and confirmed that they are available to play in the Variants Test League. If anyone that wants to play is missing, or if you have any other questions/concerns, please let me know ASAP, if you can via the chess.com social tab or by messages and not Discord (since I won't be on Discord for the next 7 - 8 hours), and I'll do my best to get things ready for tomorrow. Thanks for participating, good luck, and happy new year!

Hello members of the 4PCL! If we have a variants league in the future, which variants would you like to watch and/or play in? Here is the survey. Emails are not collected and usernames are optional, so you are completely anonymous. Your opinion will help us out a lot. Thanks for your time!