WCL 2022: rules

World Cities League (WCL) Rules
(updated October 2021, changes in italics)

1. General principles

• The World Cities League (WCL) is a team match tournament between city teams on chess.com. Its main purpose is to give chess.com members the opportunity to compete with players from other cities in a friendly sphere.
• The board of the WCL consists of the admins of the chess.com group “World Cities League HQ”. All details of the league organisation not specified in the rules are under the discretion of the board. The board will let its decision be guided by the principles of inclusion (make matches happen!) and fair play.
• One single team per city is invited to the World Cities League. If there are several teams for a city, the best ranked one on the team match leaderboard is invited first.
• Region teams can participate if there are no participating teams from cities within the respective region. When conflicts between overlapping regions and cities arise, the board decides on a case-to-case basis.
• All teams should mention a city in their name. The suggested text for the team profile description is: “This team represents [city or regional name] in the World Cities League.”

2. Set-up of the league

• The WCL is played out on an annual basis, with the first round starting in November and the last round starting in July. The year of the season is the year in which the last round starts.
• The WCL consists of four divisions, with Divisions 2 and lower containing several parallel groups. The normal division size is 10 teams. Groups in Division 4 may be smaller, depending on the total number op participating teams.
  • Division 1 with 10 teams.
  • Division 2 with 20 teams in two parallel groups.
  • Division 3 with 30 teams in three parallel groups.
  • Division 4 with all remaining teams in several parallel groups.
• All (groups in) divisions play a Round Robin tournament with one round per month. The normal starting date of each round is the first Wednesday of each month.
• After the finish of each season, teams are promoted and relegated:
  • Two teams are relegated from Div. 1 to Div. 2.
  • Two teams promote from Div. 2 to Div. 1 (one per group).
  • Six teams are relegated from Div. 2 to Div. 3 (three per group).
  • Six teams promote from Div. 3 to Div. 2 (two per group).
  • Twelve teams are relegated from Div. 3 to Div. 4 (four per group).
  • Twelve teams promote from Div. 4 to Div. 3 (the top two from each group and two wild cards selected by the WCL board).
    
• The Chess960 World Cities League (Chess 960 WCL) and the European Cities League (ECL) follow the rules of the WCL closely. They have their own formats and schedules as described in Appendix F (Chess 960 WCL) and G (ECL). Schedules are set up to complement the WCL so that city matches are ongoing throughout the full year.

3. Announcement of rounds and match challenges

• Date and time of the start of a round are announced by a news item in the WCL HQ group two weeks in advance.
• Match challenges should be issued (by either of the teams) and accepted as fast as possible, but one week before the start of the round at the latest. See Appendix A for the necessary match parameters.
• If for unforeseen reasons the match challenge is accepted later than one week before the start of the round, the match start can be delayed by one week at most (so that there remains one week for registering players). This is under the discretion of the WCL board and must be co-ordinated by message exchange.
• If a challenge is not accepted at the announced start of the round, the team that has received the challenge loses by forfeit (match result: 1 for the challenger, 0 for the challenged).
• If neither of the teams issues a challenge until the announced start of the round, both teams lose by forfeit (match points: 0 for both teams).
• If the match starts and ends regularly, match points are allocated 1-0 for the winner or ½-½ in case of a draw. The match result may be corrected for several reasons, see Sections 4-6.
• Teams are not allowed to lock their rosters before the scheduled start of the match.
• Unaccepted challenges may be cancelled after the announced start date of the round.

4. Minimum number of players

• In each division, there is a minimum number of players for each match
  • for Division 1: 20 players (WCL), 12 players (ECL), 15 players (Chess 960 WCL)
  • for Division 2: 15 players (WCL), 10 players (ECL), 8 players (Chess 960 WCL)
  • for Division 3: 10 players (WCL), 5 players (ECL), 5 players (Chess 960 WCL)
  • for Division 4: 5 players (WCL)
• A team that does not reach the player minimum at the scheduled date, loses the match by forfeit.
• A forfeit loss can be overruled if both teams agree to start the match with the required number of players later. A delayed match start may not be later than the start of the following round.
• Forfeited matches may be cancelled after the announced start date of the round.
  

5. Foreign flag players

• The flag of the country the city is located in is considered the home flag of the team.
• All players with a different flag than the home flag are considered “foreign flag players”. This also applies to the international flag.
• The number of foreign flag players is limited to 1 in each cumulative (possibly incomplete) block of 4 players (i.e. max 1 player on boards 1-4, max 2 players on boards 1-8, max 3 players on boards 1-12 etc.)
• Foreign flag players in excess of these cumulative maxima are considered irregular players and their results are corrected according to Appendix D. Foreign flag players are checked from top to bottom: The players on the highest possible boards are considered regular, the rest irregular.
• A violation of the foreign flag player rule must be claimed in the forum of the respective league/division. It is not checked automatically.
• For a number of teams additional flags are recognised as home flags. These teams and the additional home flags are listed in Appendix C.
• If a team thinks that its characteristics warrant its addition to this list of exceptions, it can send a request to the WCL board. Granting this request is under discretion of the WCL board.

6. Multi-team players

• Each player is only allowed to play for one team during one season in one league.
• A player who has played at least twice for each of more than one team is considered an irregular multi-team player and his game results are corrected according to Appendix D.

7. Match result correction for closed accounts

• If players’ accounts are closed -- either by chess.com or by the players themselves -- these players are considered irregular players and their results are corrected according to Appendix D.

8. Removal of players

• In general, admins are not allowed to remove players from the rosters of their teams.
• As an exception to the general rule, admins may remove players in the following cases:
  • Players with a timeout percentage of at least 25%.
  • Multi-team players.
  • Foreign flag players in excess of the foreign flag maximum.

9. Final results of a season

• For a season starting in November, the cut-off date for promotion and relegation is September, 30th. The match results at this cut-off date determine promotion and relegation of teams for the following season.
• The final standings of the season will be determined after all games of all matches have been finished or ultimately on December, 31st. Promotion and relegation decisions will be unaffected by this.
• The ranking of the teams both at the cut-off date as in the final standings will be determined by the following criteria in descending order:
  • Number of match points.
  • Neustadtl (Sonneborn-Berger) score.
  • Results in the direct encounters of the tied teams.
  • Total game points balance (total points scored less total points scored by the opponents in all matches).
  • Random draw.

10. Rule changes

• Rule changes appear as updates in the forum thread “WCL rules” and are announced as a group news item.
• Rule adjustments are preferably performed at the start of a season, but might also take place during the season.
• Rules can be discussed in the forum thread below.

Good luck to all teams in their matches and to all players in their games!

Appendix A: Match parameters

• Match Name: WCL[year] R[round]: first city vs. second city (for example, WCL2017 R1: Moscow vs. Zagreb)
• Game Type: Standard Chess
• Days per Move: 3 days
• Rating Range: none
• Minimum Games: 0
• Players per Club: min: differs by division, see below; max: leave free
• Concurrent Games: 2
• Start Date: [as announced by WCL board]
• Start Time: see below
• AUTO-START: off
• Games are RATED: on

Start time:

• Recommended starting time of the match is 9 AM Pacific Time.
• Deviating starting times are accepted if they are on the same calendar day.
• If teams disagree about the preferred starting time, the team on the left hand side of the pairing ("home team") may decide and formulate the challenge.

Appendix B: Team power

Wildcard granting and team allocation to the parallel groups of one division is based on past performance in the WCL or other city team competitions. If information of this sort is not available, a tentative indicator of the team strength is calculated: Average rating of the group + number of members of the group.

Appendix C: Foreign flag exceptions

• Teams of English cities (London, Bristol, Birmingham, Solihull, Hastings): British and English flags count as home flags.
• Teams of Scottish cities (Glasgow): British and Scottish flags count as home flags.
• Teams of Catalan cities (Barcelona): Spanish and Catalan flags count as home flags.
• Teams of French cities (Paris, Bordeaux, Metz, Montauban): French, Monaco and Guadeloupe flags count as home flags.
• Teams Sevastopol and Makeevka: Ukrainian and Russian flags count as home flags.
• Team Prishtina: Kosovo and Albanian flags count as home flags.
• Team Tabriz: Iranian and Azerbaijan flags count as home flags.
• Vatican City: Vatican and Italian flags count as home flags.
• Team Bijeljina: Flags of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia count as home flags.
• Province of Ulster: British and Irish flags count as home flags.

Appendix D: Match result corrections

The following players are considered “irregular players”:

• Players whose account is closed by whatever reason.
• Excess foreign flag players (see Section 5).
• Multi-team players (see Section 6).

The results of irregular players will be corrected in the following way:

• Irregular player against regular player: 0-2.
• Irregular player against irregular player: 1-1.

Appendix E (Chess960 WCL):

• The Chess960 WCL is played out on an annual basis in addition to WCL, with the first round starting in May.
• League will be played in 3 divisions
  • Division 1 with 10 teams (last 2 teams are relegated to Division 2)
  • Division 2 with 10 teams (top 2 teams are promoted to Division 1, last 2 teams are relegated to Division 3)
  • Division 3 with 15 teams (top 2 teams are promoted to Division 2)
• Match Name: 960 WCL[year] R[round]: first team vs. second team (for example, 960 WCL2022 R1: Team Lviv vs. Team Zagreb)
• Minimum players: Division 1 (15+), Division 2 (8+), Division 3 (5+)
• Ultimate deadline for the season is June 30th

Appendix F (European Cities League):

F1) Set-up of the league

• The ECL is played out on an annual basis in addition to WCL, with the first round starting in November and the last round starting in July. The year of the season is the year in which the last round starts.
• League will be played in 3 divisions in 2021
  • Division 1 with 10 teams (last 2 teams are relegated to Division 2)
  • Division 2 with 10 teams (top 2 teams are promoted to Division 1, last 2 teams are relegated to Division 3)
  • Division 3 in 4 parallel groups of 9-10 teams (top 3 teams of each group are promoted to Division 2)
• Due to the increasing number of players there will be additional Division 2 group created next year.
• Match Name: ECL[year] R[round]: first team vs. second team (for example, ECL2021 R1: Team Moscow vs. Team Zagreb)
• Minimum players: Division 1 (12+), Division 2 (10+), Division 3 (5+)

F2) Merging of WCL and ECL matches

• If both teams play in the same division of WCL and ECL, than WCL match is counted for ECL by default too (all rounds of 2021 season will be considered).
• If both teams agree, then they can set up a separate match as per ECL schedule.
• Setting up of the match on ECL schedule with proper name is considered as agreement to play a separate match for ECL.

F1 and F2 - did you mean 2022 instead of 2021?

F1 and F2 still need to be updated. Most probably, 2021 settings carry over to 2022.

We, the Team of Buenos Aires, would like to ask to increase the minimum number of player (rule 4). For division 1, we suggest a minimum of 30 player for the WCL (10 more).

It would be a very big difference between the Div1 and Div2.

Thank you for the information. Let's start and play chess. Enjoy and cheers to all.

Ray
Ray Duque III, GMBD

Hello dear managers, I want to know how the team Tabriz can use the super special points?
Tabriz is like a country and it has many people and it is a big city. I also think this is not an Iranian team because more than 70% of them are from Azerbaijan. I think they should be more active when Kish Island can build a strong team.

Also  Iranian are really upset about these laws because they think it is disrespectful to Iran. We are not happy with these laws and we think that the laws are really bad and it is also funny because how in the cities league can use of another's countries?
It is much more beautiful if, for example, 10 fewer teams enter the competition but with the real power like a real team

Im the owner of five teams and the senior manager of team Iran+

Im completely in touch with Iranian players. Also, when we built a strong team like Kish Island in short time , we think it's really an irrational reason for a big city to use another country like Azerbaijan.

That most of the players are non-Iranian and that is really bad for us. Most importantly, Iranian are very sensitive to the culture and history of our country and we consider the unreasonable dependence of the team Tabriz as a lack of work of the managers because if look at the map so easy can know about all statistics . that it is not only a great point for team Tabriz and It is like insulting Iran and Iranian . I don't know how can I say about that but Im sure that is not fair and we can not undrestand about that rules

Best regards
Kiavash

If a city team asks the WCL board for an exemption from the home-country-flag rule with a broadly plausible reason, we normally grant the exemption. If a city is located close to the border to another country and recruits players from that country as well, we consider this as a sufficient reason. After all, the WCL is a city league, country flags are a secondary issue.

The main reason of the foreign-flag rule is to prevent random teams that recruit their players from all over the world. As long as this is warranted, we tend to be liberal about exemptions for specific flags.

Dear @RainPiper thank for your information !

So we are close to the UAE and Saudi Arabia and we want to use one of those teams !!!!!

Also, Kish Island has a population of only 20,000 and we are not like Tabriz a super big city ! So 100% can use that points !!

Sometimes it is better to change the rules because these rules may be incomplete. We enjoy the live world league because they have strong and fairness rules

Dear friend , next year by changing the law , you can get more credit of the cities league .

Cheers

If the border does not limit, then most European countries can hire players from their neighbors
This interpretation and reason can not be good and acceptable
In this case, most border cities can recruit players from countries close to them, and this is not fair

It should be noted that the good city of Tabriz has very talented players and excellent teachers
I feel that this team from Tabriz cannot be one of the representatives of the Iranian team in these competitions
Because most of its players are of other nationalities
Of course, this is also the case for some other cities in the league, including the Scandinavian and English teams.

I am a bit confused here, people from other countries (as well as this league organizers) have to search to find details about each City and whether it makes sense to allow additional flag to be counted as domestic or not, but in this case other Iranian players should be better aware if Tabriz is really in close connection to Azerbaijan or not.

Is this part not true?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabriz

"

Demographics[edit]

According to an official 2016 census, the population of Tabriz is 1,733,033.^[7] The majority of the city's population are Azerbaijani people, followed by Persians, Armenians, Assyrians, and other People of Caucasus.

"

If majority of people in Tabriz are Azerbaijani, I would expect as natural to see lots of them choosing to have that flag on chess.com so they should be allowed to play for their City. Of course that noone should lie here to get unfair advantage, but we should all be aware of the facts like it is for Prishtina for example - majority of people living in that City are Albanian so it makes sense that they might want to have that flag and count it as domestic, same for Bijeljina where majority of people are Serbian even though City is in another country. I live here so I am only aware of those 2 examples that are true indeed, so I would at least expect from other Iranian admins here to be better aware of that the same way for Tabriz exception (certainly better than asking people from all around the world to know the facts for each City in every country - they are leading this league because they are willing to spend their free time in organization, not because they have ultimate information on each City in the world )

My question is: how can a team from a city in one country have half of its active players from another country and be one of the representatives of Iran?
This is definitely not fair

It is definitely not representative of Iran but representative of City of Tabriz, because this is Cities League, not Countries.

I think we must respect that name of cities league and if only some teams can use of neighbors that is not nice . Also please check about some political problems between Iran and Azerbaijan .
This not a chess game it's really important for Iranian . 99% of Iranians they don't know about that rule and if they know about that I promise you we never and ever can not stop them because you want judging about a country with more than 2500 years empire ?

Iran have super magical history and Iranians they living with that story and we can not close the eyes about that .

That rules make so many problems and please use vote because that is really important for us .

I bet you never and ever this rule can not get too much votes
I think this is really good idea

Regards
Kiavash

This must be just a chess game, nothing more.

Those who want political debates should not be welcome in this league, that is my opinion.

This is chess website and people come here to play chess only not to debate about political problems.

@Kiavash21 please don't use bold and colors

+1

In my opinion, the Tabriz team definitely represents Iran in the Cities League If this is not the case, then all Turkish speakers can be part of this team and the name of the city league should not be put on it. And it is better to become a league of ethnicities and cultures How is it possible for a team with the Iranian flag to be present in this league but not represent Iran ?? I respect the good team of Tabriz and most of its players and managers are my close friends When a team like Tabriz with this support and breadth can not benefit from its own players should not resort to players from other countries Perhaps it would be better to revise the rules of the City League in this regard Of course, you are free in all matters Thanks

The post of iksnicamod is to the point.

This is a league of cities. We consider cities individually, not as representatives of the countries they are located in.

The foreign-flag rule is designed to prevent teams that randomly collect players from all over the world. As long as this is not the case, we will be liberal in granting exemptions.