Welcome to the 2025-2026 season of the USTCL! In Division 3 this year, we welcome Alabama and New Mexico from Division 2, Illinois and Missouri from Division 4, and Quebec who are new to USTCL.
Below are the full rules, but you can always find them here, along with team membership and filtering guidelines: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/us-team-chess-league-rules-regulations. The board minimum for Division 3 is 6 boards. There are only minor adjustments to the rules, which are highlighted in the page linked above.
This year we will be using a website to track results, which are updated daily.
Rules and Regulations
Length of Season: 1 year Format: 7-round round-robin, followed by 2 rounds of cross-division challenges (details to follow). Match Settings: When setting up matches, please use the following parameters
Match Name: USTCL 2026 R#: Team A vs Team B (replace # with the number of the round) Quick Description (optional): Opening databases without engine evaluation and opening books are permitted in Daily Chess, but the use of engines and tablebases is never permitted. See here for the applicable rules: https://support.chess.com/article/648-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-fair-play-on-chess-com. If you are not clear about the rules - ask. Game Type: Standard Chess Days per Move: 3 Start Date: 14th of the month (see match dates below) Start Time: 7 PM PT (10 PM ET) Rating: None (Open) Players per Club: 6 players minimum, no maximum Concurrent Games per Player: 2 Rated: Yes Auto-Start: No Minimum Games: 5 League Standings: Standings are automatically updated daily. Only matches that have been clinched will be shown as a result in the standings. Prizes: Trophies for places 1 thru 3. Trophies will be awarded by January 1st of the following year. Player Eligibility: A player can only play for one team in this league throughout a season regardless of division. Once they play for a team, they must stay with that team throughout the season. USTCL admins will post notifications of multi-team players in the division thread a few days before the match is due to start. Promotion/Relegation: The top teams on June 30th will be promoted to Division 2, and the bottom two teams will be demoted to Division 4. Additional adjustments may be made by USTCL admins with agreement. Unfinished Matches: If a match result has not been determined by the season end date, but it is necessary that the match conclude in order to determine the divisional composition for the following season, then the remaining incomplete games within that match will be decided using chess.com's analysis tool. If a player is leading by a score of 2.0 or more, they will be determined to have won that game. If the difference is less than 2.0, the game will be determined to be a draw. Tiebreakers: The first tiebreaker will be head-to-head results. The second tiebreaker will be the Sonneborn-Berger score. Uncompleted games will not be scored for the purposes of the second tiebreaker. Removal of Players: Team admins may remove players from their roster who exceed a timeout ratio of 15%, or are ineligible due to rule 6. Removed players must be published in the team match thread prior to the start of the match. Example: Player A was removed in accordance with timeout rule: Timeout ratio 55%. Teams may not remove players from their roster or discourage players from joining a match to obtain a more favorable matchup. Score Adjustments: Match scores will be finalized after taking into consideration the account closures of members due to cheating or abuse, and also after applying penalties for multi-team players (see rule 6). This will occur prior to announcing the final standings. Forfeits: There are two types of forfeits that may be awarded.Challenge Forfeits: In order to claim a forfeit win due to no acceptance of a challenge, please post a note to the league forum thread that a challenge has been issued, and include a link to the active challenge. Challenges expire around 7-8 days after being issued. If a challenge expires, it shall be the responsibility of the team who did not accept the original challenge to send a new challenge, or a forfeit win will be awarded to the issuer of the original challenge. If match registration has not started at least 72 hours before the scheduled start time, a forfeit win will be awarded to the challenging team. If no note has been posted, the result will be a double forfeit, and will count as a 0-0. Minimum Board Forfeits: Forfeit wins will be awarded due to lack of boards, if the match link in registration was provided, and the opposing team did not meet the minimum boards at the match's intended start time. If both teams failed to meet the minimum boards, a double forfeit is awarded (no points for either team). It is important that matches are named correctly and the match start date and other parameters set correctly for this to be detected automatically. Communications: Team admins should not communicate directly with non-admin members of the opposing team. Please work directly with the opposing team admins and/or USTCL admins through private messages to avoid public conflict and confusion. Please see Team Admin best practices for additional details.
Welcome to the 2025-2026 season of the USTCL! In Division 3 this year, we welcome Alabama and New Mexico from Division 2, Illinois and Missouri from Division 4, and Quebec who are new to USTCL.
Below are the full rules, but you can always find them here, along with team membership and filtering guidelines: https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/us-team-chess-league-rules-regulations. The board minimum for Division 3 is 6 boards. There are only minor adjustments to the rules, which are highlighted in the page linked above.
This year we will be using a website to track results, which are updated daily.
Rules and Regulations
Length of Season: 1 year
Format: 7-round round-robin, followed by 2 rounds of cross-division challenges (details to follow).
Match Settings: When setting up matches, please use the following parameters
Match Name: USTCL 2026 R#: Team A vs Team B (replace # with the number of the round)
Quick Description (optional): Opening databases without engine evaluation and opening books are permitted in Daily Chess, but the use of engines and tablebases is never permitted. See here for the applicable rules: https://support.chess.com/article/648-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-fair-play-on-chess-com. If you are not clear about the rules - ask.
Game Type: Standard Chess
Days per Move: 3
Start Date: 14th of the month (see match dates below)
Start Time: 7 PM PT (10 PM ET)
Rating: None (Open)
Players per Club: 6 players minimum, no maximum
Concurrent Games per Player: 2
Rated: Yes
Auto-Start: No
Minimum Games: 5
League Standings: Standings are automatically updated daily. Only matches that have been clinched will be shown as a result in the standings.
Prizes: Trophies for places 1 thru 3. Trophies will be awarded by January 1st of the following year.
Player Eligibility: A player can only play for one team in this league throughout a season regardless of division. Once they play for a team, they must stay with that team throughout the season. USTCL admins will post notifications of multi-team players in the division thread a few days before the match is due to start.
Promotion/Relegation: The top teams on June 30th will be promoted to Division 2, and the bottom two teams will be demoted to Division 4. Additional adjustments may be made by USTCL admins with agreement.
Unfinished Matches: If a match result has not been determined by the season end date, but it is necessary that the match conclude in order to determine the divisional composition for the following season, then the remaining incomplete games within that match will be decided using chess.com's analysis tool. If a player is leading by a score of 2.0 or more, they will be determined to have won that game. If the difference is less than 2.0, the game will be determined to be a draw.
Tiebreakers: The first tiebreaker will be head-to-head results. The second tiebreaker will be the Sonneborn-Berger score. Uncompleted games will not be scored for the purposes of the second tiebreaker.
Removal of Players: Team admins may remove players from their roster who exceed a timeout ratio of 15%, or are ineligible due to rule 6. Removed players must be published in the team match thread prior to the start of the match. Example: Player A was removed in accordance with timeout rule: Timeout ratio 55%. Teams may not remove players from their roster or discourage players from joining a match to obtain a more favorable matchup.
Score Adjustments: Match scores will be finalized after taking into consideration the account closures of members due to cheating or abuse, and also after applying penalties for multi-team players (see rule 6). This will occur prior to announcing the final standings.
Forfeits: There are two types of forfeits that may be awarded.Challenge Forfeits: In order to claim a forfeit win due to no acceptance of a challenge, please post a note to the league forum thread that a challenge has been issued, and include a link to the active challenge. Challenges expire around 7-8 days after being issued. If a challenge expires, it shall be the responsibility of the team who did not accept the original challenge to send a new challenge, or a forfeit win will be awarded to the issuer of the original challenge. If match registration has not started at least 72 hours before the scheduled start time, a forfeit win will be awarded to the challenging team.
If no note has been posted, the result will be a double forfeit, and will count as a 0-0.
Minimum Board Forfeits: Forfeit wins will be awarded due to lack of boards, if the match link in registration was provided, and the opposing team did not meet the minimum boards at the match's intended start time. If both teams failed to meet the minimum boards, a double forfeit is awarded (no points for either team). It is important that matches are named correctly and the match start date and other parameters set correctly for this to be detected automatically.
Communications: Team admins should not communicate directly with non-admin members of the opposing team. Please work directly with the opposing team admins and/or USTCL admins through private messages to avoid public conflict and confusion. Please see Team Admin best practices for additional details.
League tables and match links:
Results are updated daily at the following page
https://www.chessleagues.org/ustcl/2026/division-3