Our club owner wants to have us play standard chess format as well as 960 format. If we have support of 30 members we could join a standard chess league called Team Match Championship League which offers several levels of play in four leagues. Vote at end of forum comments if you want to play standard format with these rules.
Please read the TMCL rules. They have been much improved over the last 10 years. TMCL now offers several leagues that we may want to play more standard format chess matches.
All teams taking part in a Team Match Championship League (TMCL) tournament will be placed into separate divisions (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo) according to their playing strength, Alpha being the strongest. All TMCL tournaments are based on the Round-Robin pairing system in which each team taking part plays every other team within its group, across a number of rounds (these are usually a month apart). To limit the maximum number of matches any team may be required to play at the same time, the number of teams within a group is not allowed to exceed ten.
Should a division contain more than ten teams, it will be split into a number of sub-divisions (six maximum), each one being made up of no more than six teams (spare positions being filled with 'Byes'), the winning teams from each sub-division going forward to play each other in a second stage Round-Robin (the 'Playoffs'). The number of matches a team will play in any second stage will depend on the number of sub-divisions as follows:-
For divisions having only 2 sub-divisions, the winners from each one will play a single match 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
For divisions having 5 or 6 sub-divisions, the winners from each sub-div. will play each other in a 5 round Round Robin to decide the first 3 places
In the case of divisions which are sub-divided, a 'cut-off' point (15 weeks from the start date of Round 5) will be applied when all matches within the division are assessed to decide their results, unfinished games treated as null & void & the existing score (adjusted for any closed accounts:fair play as detailed below) used to determine the match result with winning teams going forward to stage 2 (the Playoffs). Any tied positions in rankings of teams are decided by our tie-break system. Once these stage 1 results have been posted an appeal period of at least three days will allow team admins to lodge any objections.
Details of how a new tournament is to run will be posted some time before it begins and precise details of how to set up match challenges will be provided in the draw for each new round.
The Schedule for the season will give further details of when all rounds are intended to begin along with team pairings for each round.
* 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. However, match data provided by chess.com is not guaranteed to be entirely up to date, so all team admins have responsibility to double-check the results we publish. We endeavour to be fair & even-handed & treat all teams equally, however, our final decision will be binding.
2. Team Requirements:
All 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 (this may be relaxed by a few weeks at the discretion of the admins)
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 an account that's existed for at least six months
join the TMCL league in order to receive our alerts for new rounds etc.
have news/announcements/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 the draws for each round, giving all the match setup requirements, will be posted on (or slightly before) the scheduled draw dates. Team match challenges should then be sent except when a team has a 'Bye' for the round, in which case no action is required & the team automatically receives a point. It is the responsibility of the team accepting a match challenge to ensure the match setup is correct!
If a team is due to play a match but fails to take any action by the required time (we allow 120 hours from the posting of the draw), it will forfeit the round & receive a 'strike', the match point being awarded to the opponent (a 'Bye'). If both teams due to play a match 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 results in the disqualification of the team and Byes are awarded to all their opponents in the same stage. Any club that has been disabled is immediately disqualified.
Each team must reach the minimum number of players required for a match to begin and if this has not been met by the specified match start date and time, 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, they will each receive a strike.
All matches must start at the specified time, as given in the setup 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.
Match manipulation of any kind is not tolerated and should it occur, we will act if we're satisfied that this has taken place. This includes the following:-
Abuse of vacation time by players in matches having very close scores in order to affect the result at the cut-off point
Players attempting to get around the Minimum Games requirement by doing the bare minimum in their qualifying Daily games and resigning or timing out in only a few moves etc.
If the league admins are satisfied that such behaviour has taken place, we may treat the player as if they'd been disqualified and award both games to the opponent. In extreme cases we may disqualify the team concerned altogether.
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 is not required where 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. For divisions playing only a single round-robin, we will continue to adjust match results until we declare the season to be at an end.
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 any TMCL tournament is at the discretion of the league 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.
New (June/24): If a team has acquired a total of two or more strikes across all TMCL tournaments within the previous 12 months, it will be excluded from joining any new tournaments until no more than one strike remains.
8. Player eligibility:
Participating club members, including their representative admins, are free to play for any number of their teams in the TMCL 2024 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 the site. Do not complain in the TMCL 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)
Board 1: Player_A1 1.0 vs. Player_B1 1.0 Board 2: Player_A2 1.5 vs. Player_B2 0.5 → Team A wins tiebreak. Board 3: Player_A3 0.5 vs. Player_B3 1.5
I've tidied up our league Rules and Regulations and made them much more generic since we're now running a mix of different tournaments with various draw and start dates.
Might have missed one or two things, so if anything isn't clear or omitted altogether, please post below......
Our club owner wants to have us play standard chess format as well as 960 format. If we have support of 30 members we could join a standard chess league called Team Match Championship League which offers several levels of play in four leagues. Vote at end of forum comments if you want to play standard format with these rules.
Please read the TMCL rules. They have been much improved over the last 10 years. TMCL now offers several leagues that we may want to play more standard format chess matches.
TMCL: Description, Rules & Regulations
1. Tournament Format:
All teams taking part in a Team Match Championship League (TMCL) tournament will be placed into separate divisions (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo) according to their playing strength, Alpha being the strongest. All TMCL tournaments are based on the Round-Robin pairing system in which each team taking part plays every other team within its group, across a number of rounds (these are usually a month apart). To limit the maximum number of matches any team may be required to play at the same time, the number of teams within a group is not allowed to exceed ten.
Should a division contain more than ten teams, it will be split into a number of sub-divisions (six maximum), each one being made up of no more than six teams (spare positions being filled with 'Byes'), the winning teams from each sub-division going forward to play each other in a second stage Round-Robin (the 'Playoffs'). The number of matches a team will play in any second stage will depend on the number of sub-divisions as follows:-
In the case of divisions which are sub-divided, a 'cut-off' point (15 weeks from the start date of Round 5) will be applied when all matches within the division are assessed to decide their results, unfinished games treated as null & void & the existing score (adjusted for any closed accounts:fair play as detailed below) used to determine the match result with winning teams going forward to stage 2 (the Playoffs). Any tied positions in rankings of teams are decided by our tie-break system. Once these stage 1 results have been posted an appeal period of at least three days will allow team admins to lodge any objections.
Details of how a new tournament is to run will be posted some time before it begins and precise details of how to set up match challenges will be provided in the draw for each new round.
The Schedule for the season will give further details of when all rounds are intended to begin along with team pairings for each round.
* 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. However, match data provided by chess.com is not guaranteed to be entirely up to date, so all team admins have responsibility to double-check the results we publish. We endeavour to be fair & even-handed & treat all teams equally, however, our final decision will be binding.
2. Team Requirements:
All clubs that register with TMCL in order to take part in our tournaments must satisfy the following conditions:-
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:-
3. Setting up Matches:
Details of the draws for each round, giving all the match setup requirements, will be posted on (or slightly before) the scheduled draw dates. Team match challenges should then be sent except when a team has a 'Bye' for the round, in which case no action is required & the team automatically receives a point. It is the responsibility of the team accepting a match challenge to ensure the match setup is correct!
If a team is due to play a match but fails to take any action by the required time (we allow 120 hours from the posting of the draw), it will forfeit the round & receive a 'strike', the match point being awarded to the opponent (a 'Bye'). If both teams due to play a match 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 results in the disqualification of the team and Byes are awarded to all their opponents in the same stage. Any club that has been disabled is immediately disqualified.
Each team must reach the minimum number of players required for a match to begin and if this has not been met by the specified match start date and time, 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, they will each receive a strike.
All matches must start at the specified time, as given in the setup 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.
Match manipulation of any kind is not tolerated and should it occur, we will act if we're satisfied that this has taken place. This includes the following:-
If the league admins are satisfied that such behaviour has taken place, we may treat the player as if they'd been disqualified and award both games to the opponent. In extreme cases we may disqualify the team concerned altogether.
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 is not required where 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. For divisions playing only a single round-robin, we will continue to adjust match results until we declare the season to be at an end.
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 any TMCL tournament is at the discretion of the league 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.
New (June/24): If a team has acquired a total of two or more strikes across all TMCL tournaments within the previous 12 months, it will be excluded from joining any new tournaments until no more than one strike remains.
8. Player eligibility:
Participating club members, including their representative admins, are free to play for any number of their teams in the TMCL 2024 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 the site. Do not complain in the TMCL 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)
Board 1: Player_A1 1.0 vs. Player_B1 1.0Board 2: Player_A2 1.5 vs. Player_B2 0.5 → Team A wins tiebreak.
Board 3: Player_A3 0.5 vs. Player_B3 1.5
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I've tidied up our league Rules and Regulations and made them much more generic since we're now running a mix of different tournaments with various draw and start dates.
Might have missed one or two things, so if anything isn't clear or omitted altogether, please post below......