The Not-So Pro Random Chess League is a team based competition which was initially inspired by the Not-So Pro Chess League, Not-So Pro Blitz Chess League, Not-So Pro Bullet Chess League, and the Not-So Pro Variants Chess League. The NSPRCL consists of a regular season and a playoff season with the regular season 8 weeks and the playoff season 3 - 4 weeks.
Unlike all the other leagues, NSPRCL isn't a league with just one game format, it has four formats. Every week, a wheel will be spun on wheelofnames.com/ to decide what the weeks format will be. It could be rapid like NSPCL, blitz like NSPBCL, bullet like NSPBuCL, or variants like NSPVCL. The format could be blitz the first week, then rapid the next week, then variants the next week, and so on. If the wheel chooses variants, there will be another wheel on which variant will be chosen for the week.
Time Controls
1 - 10 games per player is demanded each Round. Game amounts will vary depending on which game format is decided with the wheel.
The time controls for rapid are 15 minutes to each side, with a 2-second increment per move [15|2]. All games must be rated and must be played on Chess.com.
The time controls for blitz and variants are 2 games of 3 minutes to each side, with a 2-second increment per move [3|2] and 2 games of 5 minutes to each side, with no increment [5|0]. All games must be rated and must be played on Chess.com.
The time controls for bullet are 2 games of 2 minutes to each side with a 1 second increment per move [2|1], 1 minute to each side with no increment [1|0], and 30 seconds to each side with 0 second increment [30s].
Rounds
A round is a full week(7 days) - sometimes either a bit more or a bit less, or being extended on special occasions - during which the games will be played, and a rest day, where unplayed games are ruled upon, events are processed and new Round threads are created. Won games are worth 1 game point, drawn games are worth half a game point and losses are worth 0 game points. Unplayed games will be ruled upon by the administration at the rest day and points will be awarded according to a player's correct following of the negotiation guidelines contained within each Round thread, as well as their active effort on getting a game.
Regular Stage
Consists of a Swiss eight rounds stage winning the week will earn the team a match point. Draws will earn a team half a match point, losses will earn a team no match point. In case there is an odd number of teams, bye points will be used as per Swiss system standard. Tiebreaks are as follows: 1) Game Points; 2) Least Forfeit Losses and Forfeit Draws; 3) Less Average Team Rating. At the end of the 8th round, the top 8 teams at the Leaderboard advance to the Playoffs Phase.
Playoffs Stage
Consists of a must-win 3 rounds elimination stage up until the championship, following a Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Finals, 3rd Place Match sequence of events. Quarterfinals: 8 teams with every team a seed. A team will get their seed by how well they did in the regular stage. The 1st seed plays the 8th, 2nd the 7th, 3rd the 6th, and 4th the 5th. Winning teams go on to play in the semifinals. Elimination in quarterfinals means that your team is done for the season. Semifinals: The 4 teams that won in the quarterfinals will advance to the semifinals. The winner of the 1st and 8th seed match will play the winner of the 4th and 5th seed match. The winner of the 2nd and 7th seed match will play the winner of the 3rd and 6th seed match. Winners advance to finals and losers play in 3rd place match.
Finals and 3rd Place Match: The finals is the ultimate match between the that won in the semifinals and the 3rd place match is the match between the losers of the semifinals. The 3rd place match decides the Bronze Trophy holder decision. In case of a tie in any playoff rounds, there will be Tiebreaks rounds as follows: 1) Blitz Tiebreaks - 1 Game of 3|2; 2) Blitz Tiebreaks [3|2] with inverted colors; 3) NSPRCL Armageddon [3|2] - Higher seed picks the side to play (White/Black) and, if still tied, side Black wins.
Requirements
To join as a Player in the Not-So Pro Random Chess League it is required that the Chess.com member has a minimum of 3 months in the site, as well as a minimum of 50 overall rated rapid, blitz, bullet, and variant games against human players. You must play at least 15 different humans in rated games for the games to count, so that rating manipulation is avoided. These games must be played by the start of the Regular Stage, or else the player is ineligible for the season. Games against computer live bots do not count to the minimum games required. Players failing to meet the requirements might still apply through the official form, however, it is a player's responsibility to communicate with the administration once requirements are met, in case he so desires to join at a later date. All entries will be verified for deliberate rating manipulation, which is a form of fair play abuse and therefore will not be tolerated.
Teams
Each team has 6 players, which are divided into six boards respecting a rating ladder, being Board 1 the higher-rated player, and Board 6 the lower-rated player. The Max Average Rating per team cannot surpass 1700 rating points, that is, the sum of all six players' final collected ratings cannot be higher than 10200 total rating points. To promote team continuity, all returning teams which maintain at least 3 players will have Bonus Max Average Rating as follows: 3 returning players: 1720 Max Average Rating (10320 total rating points) 4 returning players: 1740 Max Average Rating (10440 total rating points) 5 returning players: 1760 Max Average Rating (10560 total rating points)
6 returning players: 1780 Max Average Rating (10680 total rating points)
A max difference of 100 rating points will be accepted, in the event of a higher Board player being lower-rated than the player(s) below them. It is required that one of the players stands in the condition of a Team Captain. A returning team is a team that has either their previous season captain returning, or a player from the previous season taking up the captain role. Substitute players that had become permament for a team (a.k.a. Permasubs) in the previous season - playing 2 or more games for a team, therefore being attached to it - also count as returning players for these purposes. A team is only allowed a total of 4 substitute transactions during the course of a season. If a player subs onto a team for 2 or more Rounds, they count as a rostered player.
Team Captain
A Team Captain also stands in the condition of a Player and has, among their responsibilities throughout the season, to: Recruit, manage and represent their teammates;
Find a substitute player if needed, communicating the administration beforehand (see Substitute Player, 2nd paragraph for detailed information on deadlines) in case of a substitution, a change of rosters or player replacements of any kind;
Provide a team name no wider than 32 characters (spaces included), a team logo (preferably in square proportion: min 200px wide, ideally 600px wide), and optionally choose their team lettering and background color for the pairings and results threads;
Be active and communicative for as long as their team lasts in the competition.
Player
A Player has, among their responsibilities throughout the season, to:
Locate their respective negotiation thread at each Round's Pairings & Negotiation Threads club news post;
Read and follow the instructions therein to negotiate a time for their game;
Attend their game in the accorded time;
Post their game result at each Round's Results thread;
Communicate their Team Captain beforehand in case of an impossibility to participate on a certain Round or during a certain period of time;
Have their live chess challenge settings open to everyone in the accorded game time, or alternatively add their opponent to the friends list in order to play the game (see this thread for detailed instructions);
Accept to play for the same team during the season, being unable to join other teams in case of an elimination or withdrawal;
Inform their previous username to the Administration in case of a username change.
Substitute Player
Substitute Players (Subs) are teamless volunteer players which might be recruited by a team during a certain period, in the event of a Player being unable to play. Subs are allowed to play for one single team per Round. For a substitution to be valid, the rating rules listed on Teams section need to be observed. Additionally, a Substitute Player cannot be rated higher than 100 rating points from the Player they are subbing for. The higher rating between the original player and the substitute will be used to calculate the average team rating. A substitution needs to be communicated by the Team Captain to the Administration no further than 48 hours - 2 days - from the beginning of a playing Round. On the event of extended Round, for each 7 playing days comprised in it, there will be a plus of 48 hours added to this limit. E.g. a Round that is 18 playing days long will have 144 hours - 6 days - limit for communicating substitutions. Late substitutions will not be accepted. If a substitute is not communicated to and validated by an admin and plays a game, they will be forfeited that Round. All teamless Players which have signed on the official form and have not been assigned to a team will be shifted to the condition of Substitute Players once Team Formation ends, being then located at the Subs tab at the Google Spreadsheets. If a Substitute Player has played 2 Rounds for a single team, they can no longer sub for other teams during that season, therefore becoming attached to that team (a.k.a. Permasub). They are still allowed to be replaced by the original player, or by a new substitute player. If a Permasub was on a team that has been eliminated on a previous season stage, they cannot sub for a new team in future stages. If a team reaches a blitz playoff, new Substitute Players are not allowed. Teams must keep the same roster from the original playoff round into the blitz tiebreak match. For each Substitute Player assigned to a team that contains Bonus Max Average Rating, a downgrade to the bonus will occur. E.g.: a Team has 3 returning players but needs to employ a Substitute Player: their final Max Average Rating will then be 1700, not 1720. A Substitute player's rating may be calculated differently than a rostered player. A Substitute player's collected rating will be the higher of either their peak starting from the beginning of Team Formation to the day the Sub is requested, or their collected peak during the 6 months period. This is so that their rating will be accurate when they sub for a team.
Rating Collection
A player's collected rating will consist of his/hers average of their combined peaks of rapid, blitz, bullet, and variants rating from the last 12 months prior to the last day of the rating collection period, as described in the official Registration news for that particular season. If a player has less than 20 blitz, bullet, rapid, and variant rated games inside the Rating Collection period then they will be inelidible unless an admin gives an exemption for them to play.
Games with rating difference over 400 points will be disregarded for all the game controls. If a player hasn't met the requirements to join the league, they will only be eligible after achieving those. The minimum collected rating for a player is 800 points. The maximum collected rating for a player is 2300 points.
Forfeits
In the event of a player failing to be online (no-show) in the scheduled game time after 30 minutes have elapsed, they must justify it on the respective Negotiation Thread and offer new time windows as quickly as possible. The administration will be looking upon all negotiations closely for possible abuse of the negotiation system. Failing to show up twice in a Round will award a forfeit win to the opponent. A no-show will also render the player a Strike. If a player accumulates 5 Strikes they will thereby be ejected from the remainder of the season. In case there is a game scheduled late in the Round and one of the players is a no-show, they are likely to receive a forfeit loss.
If the opponent hasn't negotiated in 72 hours(3 days) then the player that did negotiate can claim a forfeit. The forfeit will also count as a strike towards the opponent that did not negotiate.
Fair Play
All games will be reviewed by the NSPRCL Admins and Fair Play Consultators during and after every season. Players that are found to be cheating during the season by this review will be banned from NSPRCL, even if chess.com does not close their account. Have their results reverted - including forfeit results - into losses. Have the standings and playoff implications be adjusted accordingly. All Fair Play adjustments made are final and not appealable.
Arguing
The decision of the administration on any issue is final and should not be debated within the club. You may, however, politely petition the administration for a review of the decision via Private Messages. Constant arguing and complaints may result in a member's ejection from the club. If you wish to suggest changes to the rules or how the league operates, you may comment in this forum:
Rules & Guidelines of NSPRCL
Format
The Not-So Pro Random Chess League is a team based competition which was initially inspired by the Not-So Pro Chess League, Not-So Pro Blitz Chess League, Not-So Pro Bullet Chess League, and the Not-So Pro Variants Chess League. The NSPRCL consists of a regular season and a playoff season with the regular season 8 weeks and the playoff season 3 - 4 weeks.
Unlike all the other leagues, NSPRCL isn't a league with just one game format, it has four formats. Every week, a wheel will be spun on wheelofnames.com/ to decide what the weeks format will be. It could be rapid like NSPCL, blitz like NSPBCL, bullet like NSPBuCL, or variants like NSPVCL. The format could be blitz the first week, then rapid the next week, then variants the next week, and so on. If the wheel chooses variants, there will be another wheel on which variant will be chosen for the week.
Time Controls
1 - 10 games per player is demanded each Round. Game amounts will vary depending on which game format is decided with the wheel.
The time controls for rapid are 15 minutes to each side, with a 2-second increment per move [15|2]. All games must be rated and must be played on Chess.com.
The time controls for blitz and variants are 2 games of 3 minutes to each side, with a 2-second increment per move [3|2] and 2 games of 5 minutes to each side, with no increment [5|0]. All games must be rated and must be played on Chess.com.
The time controls for bullet are 2 games of 2 minutes to each side with a 1 second increment per move [2|1], 1 minute to each side with no increment [1|0], and 30 seconds to each side with 0 second increment [30s].
Rounds
A round is a full week(7 days) - sometimes either a bit more or a bit less, or being extended on special occasions - during which the games will be played, and a rest day, where unplayed games are ruled upon, events are processed and new Round threads are created.
Won games are worth 1 game point, drawn games are worth half a game point and losses are worth 0 game points. Unplayed games will be ruled upon by the administration at the rest day and points will be awarded according to a player's correct following of the negotiation guidelines contained within each Round thread, as well as their active effort on getting a game.
Regular Stage
Consists of a Swiss eight rounds stage winning the week will earn the team a match point. Draws will earn a team half a match point, losses will earn a team no match point. In case there is an odd number of teams, bye points will be used as per Swiss system standard.
Tiebreaks are as follows: 1) Game Points; 2) Least Forfeit Losses and Forfeit Draws; 3) Less Average Team Rating. At the end of the 8th round, the top 8 teams at the Leaderboard advance to the Playoffs Phase.
Playoffs Stage
Consists of a must-win 3 rounds elimination stage up until the championship, following a Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Finals, 3rd Place Match sequence of events.
Quarterfinals: 8 teams with every team a seed. A team will get their seed by how well they did in the regular stage. The 1st seed plays the 8th, 2nd the 7th, 3rd the 6th, and 4th the 5th. Winning teams go on to play in the semifinals. Elimination in quarterfinals means that your team is done for the season.
Semifinals: The 4 teams that won in the quarterfinals will advance to the semifinals. The winner of the 1st and 8th seed match will play the winner of the 4th and 5th seed match. The winner of the 2nd and 7th seed match will play the winner of the 3rd and 6th seed match. Winners advance to finals and losers play in 3rd place match.
Finals and 3rd Place Match: The finals is the ultimate match between the that won in the semifinals and the 3rd place match is the match between the losers of the semifinals. The 3rd place match decides the Bronze Trophy holder decision.
In case of a tie in any playoff rounds, there will be Tiebreaks rounds as follows: 1) Blitz Tiebreaks - 1 Game of 3|2; 2) Blitz Tiebreaks [3|2] with inverted colors; 3) NSPRCL Armageddon [3|2] - Higher seed picks the side to play (White/Black) and, if still tied, side Black wins.
Requirements
To join as a Player in the Not-So Pro Random Chess League it is required that the Chess.com member has a minimum of 3 months in the site, as well as a minimum of 50 overall rated rapid, blitz, bullet, and variant games against human players. You must play at least 15 different humans in rated games for the games to count, so that rating manipulation is avoided. These games must be played by the start of the Regular Stage, or else the player is ineligible for the season.
Games against computer live bots do not count to the minimum games required. Players failing to meet the requirements might still apply through the official form, however, it is a player's responsibility to communicate with the administration once requirements are met, in case he so desires to join at a later date. All entries will be verified for deliberate rating manipulation, which is a form of fair play abuse and therefore will not be tolerated.
Teams
Each team has 6 players, which are divided into six boards respecting a rating ladder, being Board 1 the higher-rated player, and Board 6 the lower-rated player. The Max Average Rating per team cannot surpass 1700 rating points, that is, the sum of all six players' final collected ratings cannot be higher than 10200 total rating points.
To promote team continuity, all returning teams which maintain at least 3 players will have Bonus Max Average Rating as follows:
3 returning players: 1720 Max Average Rating (10320 total rating points)
4 returning players: 1740 Max Average Rating (10440 total rating points)
5 returning players: 1760 Max Average Rating (10560 total rating points)
6 returning players: 1780 Max Average Rating (10680 total rating points)
A max difference of 100 rating points will be accepted, in the event of a higher Board player being lower-rated than the player(s) below them.
It is required that one of the players stands in the condition of a Team Captain.
A returning team is a team that has either their previous season captain returning, or a player from the previous season taking up the captain role. Substitute players that had become permament for a team (a.k.a. Permasubs) in the previous season - playing 2 or more games for a team, therefore being attached to it - also count as returning players for these purposes.
A team is only allowed a total of 4 substitute transactions during the course of a season. If a player subs onto a team for 2 or more Rounds, they count as a rostered player.
Team Captain
A Team Captain also stands in the condition of a Player and has, among their responsibilities throughout the season, to:
Recruit, manage and represent their teammates;
Find a substitute player if needed, communicating the administration beforehand (see Substitute Player, 2nd paragraph for detailed information on deadlines) in case of a substitution, a change of rosters or player replacements of any kind;
Provide a team name no wider than 32 characters (spaces included), a team logo (preferably in square proportion: min 200px wide, ideally 600px wide), and optionally choose their team lettering and background color for the pairings and results threads;
Be active and communicative for as long as their team lasts in the competition.
Player
A Player has, among their responsibilities throughout the season, to:
Locate their respective negotiation thread at each Round's Pairings & Negotiation Threads club news post;
Read and follow the instructions therein to negotiate a time for their game;
Attend their game in the accorded time;
Post their game result at each Round's Results thread;
Communicate their Team Captain beforehand in case of an impossibility to participate on a certain Round or during a certain period of time;
Have their live chess challenge settings open to everyone in the accorded game time, or alternatively add their opponent to the friends list in order to play the game (see this thread for detailed instructions);
Accept to play for the same team during the season, being unable to join other teams in case of an elimination or withdrawal;
Inform their previous username to the Administration in case of a username change.
Substitute Player
Substitute Players (Subs) are teamless volunteer players which might be recruited by a team during a certain period, in the event of a Player being unable to play. Subs are allowed to play for one single team per Round. For a substitution to be valid, the rating rules listed on Teams section need to be observed. Additionally, a Substitute Player cannot be rated higher than 100 rating points from the Player they are subbing for. The higher rating between the original player and the substitute will be used to calculate the average team rating.
A substitution needs to be communicated by the Team Captain to the Administration no further than 48 hours - 2 days - from the beginning of a playing Round. On the event of extended Round, for each 7 playing days comprised in it, there will be a plus of 48 hours added to this limit. E.g. a Round that is 18 playing days long will have 144 hours - 6 days - limit for communicating substitutions. Late substitutions will not be accepted. If a substitute is not communicated to and validated by an admin and plays a game, they will be forfeited that Round.
All teamless Players which have signed on the official form and have not been assigned to a team will be shifted to the condition of Substitute Players once Team Formation ends, being then located at the Subs tab at the Google Spreadsheets.
If a Substitute Player has played 2 Rounds for a single team, they can no longer sub for other teams during that season, therefore becoming attached to that team (a.k.a. Permasub). They are still allowed to be replaced by the original player, or by a new substitute player.
If a Permasub was on a team that has been eliminated on a previous season stage, they cannot sub for a new team in future stages.
If a team reaches a blitz playoff, new Substitute Players are not allowed. Teams must keep the same roster from the original playoff round into the blitz tiebreak match.
For each Substitute Player assigned to a team that contains Bonus Max Average Rating, a downgrade to the bonus will occur. E.g.: a Team has 3 returning players but needs to employ a Substitute Player: their final Max Average Rating will then be 1700, not 1720.
A Substitute player's rating may be calculated differently than a rostered player. A Substitute player's collected rating will be the higher of either their peak starting from the beginning of Team Formation to the day the Sub is requested, or their collected peak during the 6 months period. This is so that their rating will be accurate when they sub for a team.
Rating Collection
A player's collected rating will consist of his/hers average of their combined peaks of rapid, blitz, bullet, and variants rating from the last 12 months prior to the last day of the rating collection period, as described in the official Registration news for that particular season.
If a player has less than 20 blitz, bullet, rapid, and variant rated games inside the Rating Collection period then they will be inelidible unless an admin gives an exemption for them to play.
Games with rating difference over 400 points will be disregarded for all the game controls.
If a player hasn't met the requirements to join the league, they will only be eligible after achieving those.
The minimum collected rating for a player is 800 points.
The maximum collected rating for a player is 2300 points.
Forfeits
In the event of a player failing to be online (no-show) in the scheduled game time after 30 minutes have elapsed, they must justify it on the respective Negotiation Thread and offer new time windows as quickly as possible. The administration will be looking upon all negotiations closely for possible abuse of the negotiation system. Failing to show up twice in a Round will award a forfeit win to the opponent. A no-show will also render the player a Strike. If a player accumulates 5 Strikes they will thereby be ejected from the remainder of the season. In case there is a game scheduled late in the Round and one of the players is a no-show, they are likely to receive a forfeit loss.
If the opponent hasn't negotiated in 72 hours(3 days) then the player that did negotiate can claim a forfeit. The forfeit will also count as a strike towards the opponent that did not negotiate.
Fair Play
All games will be reviewed by the NSPRCL Admins and Fair Play Consultators during and after every season. Players that are found to be cheating during the season by this review will be banned from NSPRCL, even if chess.com does not close their account. Have their results reverted - including forfeit results - into losses. Have the standings and playoff implications be adjusted accordingly. All Fair Play adjustments made are final and not appealable.
Arguing
The decision of the administration on any issue is final and should not be debated within the club. You may, however, politely petition the administration for a review of the decision via Private Messages. Constant arguing and complaints may result in a member's ejection from the club. If you wish to suggest changes to the rules or how the league operates, you may comment in this forum:
https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/suggestions-on-league
These rules are subject to change.
Major changes will be communicated inside the club.