• Format of the 2021 tournament
• Team Requirements
• Setting up Matches
• Removal of Players
• Closure of Player Accounts
• Standards of Behavior
• Participation in TMCL
• Player eligibility
• Addenda

1. Tournament Format:

All teams taking part will be placed into divisions (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot etc.) according to their playing strength. Each division of equally strong teams is then divided into no more than 4 sub-divisions, each sub-division being made up of a maximum of 6 teams. Spare positions will be filled with 'Byes'. The number of divisions is expected to be at least 5 but may be extended to 6 or more depending on the number of teams applying.

Each team within a sub-division will play each other team in a preliminary Round-Robin (RR) stage of 5 rounds. Clubs will be afforded no less than 14 days in which to build their teams, details of the Round 1 draw being posted on or before the 18th of December 2020 with a start date of 1/Jan/2021. Rounds 2 to 5 will be posted on or before 18/Jan, 15/Feb, 17/Mar & 17/Apr with start dates on the first day of February through to May. A complete set of instructions will be posted at the start of each round.

First place ties will be decided by our tie-break system, winning teams going forward to the Playoff stage which will be structured as follows:-

• For divisions having only 2 sub-divisions, the winners from each one will play a single round to decide the overall first (Gold) & second (Silver) placed teams in the division but the two highest scoring runners-up will be invited to play a match for third place (Bronze)
• For divisions having 3 or 4 sub-divisions, the winners from each sub-div. will play each other in a 3 round Round Robin to decide the first 3 places

The TMCL Schedule for the 2021 season gives further details of when all rounds are intended to begin.

If the preliminary rounds (R1 to R5) are unfinished before the playoff rounds (R6 to R8) are due to begin, there will be a cut-off date (15 weeks from the start date of Round 5) to decide the results of matches: All team matches in rounds 1 to 5 must be concluded by 14/August/2021. Any outstanding games in unresolved team matches on that date will be treated as null & void & the existing score (adjusted for any closed accounts as detailed below) used to determine the result. Opponent admins are responsible for detecting and reporting match result manipulation should it occur & we will act if we're satisfied that this has taken place.

There will be a 3 day appeal period until 17/August/2021 when the first of the playoff rounds (R6) will be posted, matches starting on the 1/Sept/2021. A similar cut-off date of 14/Feb/2022 (15 weeks from the start of R8) will apply to the playoff rounds (R6 to R8) but in cases of matches where the outcome is unclear, we'll allow them to play on until the result becomes conclusive.

* Results of matches are collated & adjusted by the TMCL admins on a 'best effort' basis: That's to say we can't guarantee to complete this process by a particular time but the results will be as accurate as we can make them. We endeavour to be fair & even-handed & treat all teams equally, however, our final decision will be binding.

Each division is supervised by one of the TMCL admins as follows:-

• Alpha: newfischer78
• Bravo: BSAeagle60
• Charlie: DEATHW1SH
• Delta: DEATHW1SH
• Echo: DEATHW1SH

2. Team Requirements:

All groups/clubs that register with TMCL in order to take part in our tournaments must satisfy the following conditions:-

• have been in existence for at least 12 months: For the 2020 season that means only clubs founded before 1/Jan/2020 will qualify
• have a minimum of 25 players

Each team must be represented in TMCL by at least one responsible admin (preferably an SA), although we recommend a minimum of two for safety & they must:-

• be at least sixteen years of age
• have site membership of at least six months
• join the TMCL group in order to receive our alerts for new rounds etc.
• have news/forum alerts from TMCL enabled for as long as their teams are involved in a tournament
• take equal responsibility with other team admins to ensure that their matches are opened, by either sending appropriate challenges or accepting them
• ensure that they build their teams in each round so as to reach the minimum size for their division
• confirm that they accept these conditions & post a comment to that effect in the confirmation thread at the beginning of the season

3. Setting up Matches:

Details of each round in the tournament will be posted on (or slightly before) the scheduled draw dates, along with a news item to alert team admins to send their challenges except when a team has a 'Bye' for the round, in which case no action is required & the team automatically receives a point. If a team due to play a match fails to take any action by the required date (5 days from the scheduled draw date as specified in the match setup instructions for each division), it will forfeit the round & receive a strike. If both teams in a pairing fail to act, they will each receive a strike. Should one team issue a valid challenge, posting evidence of this in the draw thread, that team will be awarded a Bye for the round if its opponent fails to accept.

* Only one strike is permitted in a TMCL season. A second strike will result in the disqualification of the team from the remainder of the season and Byes awarded to all their opponents in the same stage. The same applies to a team that withdraws after the tournament has begun & in both cases it will be as if the team hadn't taken part.

When it seems likely that a team will fail to reach the minimum numbers of players required for a match to begin, the TMCL admins may warn the relevant team admin(s) about this. Please note that we're under no obligation to do this & after one warning, don't expect any more! If at the specified match start date and time the 'minimum players' requirement has not been met, that team will be in default (receiving a strike) & the opponent will be awarded the match win. If both teams fail to meet the minimum player requirement for the match, the match will be scored 0-0 and they will each receive a 'strike'.

All challenges must be issued exactly as follows:

• Match Name: TMCL 2021 {div.} {R#}: (as given in the draw instructions for the round)
• Game Type: Standard Chess
• Starting Position: Standard Starting Position
• Days per Move: 3
• Quick Description: leave blank
• Rating: Min / Max: leave blank
• Minimum Games: 10
• Players per Team: Min: ## {see below}, Max: leave blank
• Concurrent games per Opponent: 2
• Start Date: Set the start date precisely as specified
• Start Time: 9:00 (am) Set the start time precisely as specified.
• Start Time Note: Start times are set in US Pacific time but displayed in local time
• Auto Start: No i.e. leave blank, do not select
• Games are RATED: Yes i.e. must be selected

The setup instructions for each round are given in greater detail in the draw topics for each division. It is the responsibility of the team accepting a match challenge to ensure the match parameters are correct!

## Teams must achieve a minimum number of players per match, depending on their division as follows:-

• Alpha: 40
• Bravo: 30
• Charlie: 20
• Delta: 10
• Echo: 5

All matches must start at the specified time, as given in the set-up instructions for the round. Under no circumstances should admins lock their teams.

It may be possible, under exceptional circumstances, to start a match early but only by arrangement with the TMCL admins & with the agreement of the opponent team.

4. Removal of Players:

(i) With the exception of those having excessive timeout rates (see ii below), no player may be removed or withdraw themselves from a team roster. Any team demonstrated to have behaved in this way & failing to provide a satisfactory explanation within two weeks, will suffer a penalty of four points, plus two points per permanently removed player, added to their opponent's final score.

Please note: The purpose of the above rule is to deter match manipulation by the removal of players who are deemed likely to lose their games. The TMCL admins will judge such incidents on a case by case basis & be sympathetic to teams that can show good reasons for removal.

(ii) The ONLY exception to (i) is that teams may remove players with a timeout percentage of 15% or greater in the last 90 days from their roster and post a comment to that effect in the relevant divisional thread, giving the name & time-out rate of the player (this requirement is relaxed when lists of such players have already been posted).

5. Closure of Player Accounts:

Be warned that the TMCL competition is severe on cheating [1][2]. Match scores will be finalised after taking into consideration account closures of members due to fair play violation (Closed: Fair Play), i.e. cheating. In such cases we award any points won by the cheating player to their opponent & add a penalty of 2 points to the opponent's team score. If both accounts are closed (Fair Play) on the same board, their game points are ignored. Penalty calculations will be finalized at the cut-off date.

6. Standards of Behavior in TMCL:

Disrespectful behavior, wherever it happens, will not be tolerated and will lead to the perpetrators being warned once and then banned from the Team Match Championship League group.

Special behavior note: Abuse of any member of the TMCL admin team is grounds for immediate expulsion from the Team Match Championship League group without warning.

7. Participation:

Entry into the TMCL competition is at the discretion of the TMCL admins & all teams must meet the conditions laid down in section 2. Any team or its admins may be removed from TMCL if they fail to demonstrate acceptable standards of fair play in matches or treat others with disrespect.

8. Player eligibility:

Participating club members, including their representative admins, are free to play for any number of their teams in the TMCL 2021 season.

Notes:

[1] Any player with a Closed: Fair Play icon placed by their name is considered to be a cheat. No discussion will be entered into regarding cheating.

[2] If you think an opponent player is cheating or being abusive, please report them to chess.com support. Do not complain in the Team Match Championship League group notes or forums.

Addenda:

Round Robin Tie-Break System:

We resolve ties between first placed teams by applying tie-breaks in the following order:-

1st Tie-Break: Sonneborn-Berger Score (see article).

A team's tie-break (Sonneborn-Berger) score is calculated by adding the sum of the conventional scores of the teams it has defeated to half the sum of the conventional scores of those it has drawn against.

2nd Tie-Break: Average Win Percentage (excluding any defaults and byes).

Example calculation: If a team wins a match 70-30 then:

Win Percentage = 100 * (70/(70+30)) = 70%
The Average Win Percentage is then the sum of the Win Percentages for all matches divided by the number of matches (excluding any byes or wins by default from the calculation). This tiebreak method accounts for TMCL matches being of a non standard size.

3rd Tie-Break: Winner of Head-To-Head matchup.

The result(s) of the match(es) in the RR between the tied teams is used to determine the winner: One point for a win & half a point for a draw.

4th Tie-Break: Highest winning board in Head-To-Head matchup.

The highest winning board is calculated as follows:

Match: Team A vs. Team B (overall match is drawn 3.0 all)