What is the Pan American Live Chess League (LCPAL)?
The Pan American Live Chess League (LCPAL), officially sponsored by Chess.com, is the continent's premier live chess competition, featuring 8 tournaments in 2020. The LCPAL has prizes that have been generously provided by Chess.com: the first place team in many of the above tournaments wins 5 Diamond memberships, the second place team in each tournament wins 5 Platinum memberships, and the third place team in each tournament wins 5 Gold memberships! These prizes are then distributed to the five team members with the most participation and highest performance over the course of those tournaments.
What is the format of the LCPAL?
The eight tournaments of the 2020 LCPAL are the Blitz Cup, Bullet Cup, Confederations Cup, Super Cup, Super Cup B, Rapid Cup, +1800 Tournament, and U1600 Tournament.
The LCPAL Blitz Cup (5|2), generally considered the LCPAL's main event, is played with a 15-round single round robin regular season, with 6 teams qualifying for the playoffs, and the top 2 teams receiving first round playoff byes. It will take place from January 13th to April 5th, and after a short break, conclude from June 29th to August 9th.
The LCPAL Bullet Cup (2|1) is played with an 8-round swiss regular season, with 6 teams qualifying for the playoffs, and the top 2 teams receiving first round playoff byes. The 2020 LCPAL Bullet Cup will take place from April 13th to June 21st.
The LCPAL Confederations Cup (5|2) is played with a 7-round single round robin regular season, with 4 teams qualifying for the playoffs in each of the North America and South America "federations". The 2020 LCPAL Confederations Cup will take place from August 17th to October 11th, and we will, naturally, play in the North American federation.
The LCPAL Super Cup (5|2) and Super Cup B (5|2) are 2-round knockout competitions between the top teams in each of the North American and South America "federations". The 2020 LCPAL Super Cup and Super Cup B will take place from October 19th to October 25th.
The LCPAL Rapid Cup (15|2), +1800 Tournament (5|2), and U1600 Tournament (5|2) are played with 6-round swiss regular seasons, with 6 teams qualifying for the playoffs, and the top 2 teams receiving first round playoff byes. All of these tournaments will take place from November 2nd to December 27th.
Where can the LCPAL standings be found?
The LCPAL standings of all competitions can be found here: https://livechessleagues.com/
U1600 Tournament standings: https://livechessleagues.com/s3-u1600/
Where can the LCPAL pairings be found?
Blitz Cup: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15mJNFqNei1sz2ETneB5Xm_NHVirQ1gDf/view
U1600 Tournament: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aGtodzc5OJnR6cPkZt_SlCkjCinDoRTn/view
The league gives us a one-week window to play each round within, but matches are normally scheduled for weekend evenings, with a Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday night match every so often.
If you have any questions about the LCPAL, please ask below, and I will answer them and/or add them to the list of FAQs above.