World League Competitions Rules
25th January 2026
Purpose of The World League: A team match tournament between clubs that represent different nations on chess.com. To provide as many players as possible, the chance to play against people from around the world in friendly competition.
Qualifying clubs: All teams must represent a country or geographic region with unique identity. Where there is any conflict then the internationally recognised country takes precedent but, after deliberation, the World League Directors will have final discretion.
Team Members: Players can choose to represent any team of their choice but would normally represent their country of association. Teams should make every effort to only field players who have a regional connection. (e.g., live/lived in that nation or region or have relatives / close family from that region). Teams may not place restrictions on eligible members joining. All qualifying members must be accepted into the team regardless of any rating level. It is reasonable to require new members a qualifying period on site (typically 3 to 12 months). Longer periods must be agreed with the Tournament Directors.Players may only represent one team in each season for a specific competition. Multi-Team players will be board defaulted 0-2 in all matches other than for their designated team. (Determined by the first team represented). Each competition is treated separately.
League Structure: The league will be divided into divisions. Teams will be allocated to divisions using their finishing places in the previous season. Teams in the highest positions will be promoted and teams in the lowest positions will be relegated. Promotion and relegation, at the start of the new season, will be at the discretion of the Tournament Directors. This is reviewed each season and subject to the number of teams and divisions in the competition. New teams will start in the lowest division, but the Tournament Directors shall have discretion to adjust the starting division of a new team in exceptional circumstances.
Team registration: Teams will be asked to register, in advance, for each season and must comply with the registration requirements.
Fixtures and results: The Tournament Directors will be responsible for organising the fixtures and compiling the results. These will be published as determined by the League and be available to view by all teams. Updated on a schedule as determined to be appropriate.
Match schedule: There will normally be one league match per month, and the fixture list will be published prior to the start of each round. Challenges should be sent only after the round is posted via a WL HQ announcement. Indicative match schedules will be made available as soon as available.Following round announcements, either team can send the challenge and must do so within the scheduled time. The match must be accepted and open by the scheduled time. Challenges, with URL link to seek, must be posted in the correct forum in WL HQ for each round.
Match compliance: Matches which are not organised and open for registration, with the correct setup parameters, by the stated time will be
declared forfeit win for the team who have posted a correct challenge which is not accepted in the time frame
declared void, if no correct challenge posted, and no match points awarded.
Member registrations: All team members must be eligible to register for all league matches. No member shall be excluded from matches on the grounds of rating level. Members with high time out rates in any daily format (currently set at >25% over 90 days) may be removed from the match prior to the start, and the removed numbers must be posted in the match comment section by the team admin before match start time. Matches must not be locked during registration.
Match results: Each ongoing match will be decided by the points gained by team members. Each match won scores one point for a team with a half point awarded for a draw. Note: All members whose accounts are closed for Fair Play Violation by Chess.com, will forfeit the board 0-2 regardless of the actual game results. (If both players on a board are banned for Fair Play then the board will be halved). Only Chess.com will determine Fair Play violation. A match score adjustment will be applied by the league if the match has already been completed. This will continue for the duration of the league competition.The match scores will not be adjusted for any other closures.No alterations will be made once the competition is concluded.
League results: The final league table shall be determined, in each division, by the following order of calculation:
Total match points
Sonneborn–Berger tie break
Games points percentage across all matches after all board score adjustments have been made (i.e. total game points against total games played as a percentage)
Any further tie break to be determined by the Directors on an as required basis.Promotion/relegation will be based on the intermediate league standings at the end of the calender year.Division winners will be announced when all match results are considered finalised.League results can be found here > Link <
Disputes: All teams and team members are expected to conduct themselves respectfully and ethically and adhere to the site Terms and Conditions. No disputes or conflicts shall be posted publicly. No team admin or team member shall publicly accuse or imply that another player or team is/are cheating.Any issues or disputes should be communicated to the Tournament Directors, in private, as soon as possible. The Tournament Directors decision, after due consideration, will be final. If an issue affects a director’s team, then the matter will be decided by impartial league Directors .
Exceptions to Rules: Anything other, not covered by these rules, should be communicated to the League Directors at the earliest opportunity. The Directors, after consideration, shall communicate their decision to the league in general and any rule amendments for the following season shall be formulated. Their decision is final