4 Player Chess Ultrabullet League | 4PCUL | Season 1

Welcome to the league, a series of high level 4 player ultrabullet chess arenas coming soon on the variants server.

Format:

- Time Control: 6 sec, no increment or delay
- Gamerules: 1pt Queen Promotion, Semi-Anonymous
- Rating Restriction: 2100+
- Rating Formula: Solo
- Setup: Various, see below
- Winstreak: Enabled
- Arena Duration: 1 hour

Also, for those concerned, blocking will have no effect on matchmaking, as per usual with arenas.

Schedule & Rotation (Dates and Times in UTC)

• Arena 1: New Setup, August 26 - 0 UTC
• Arena 2: Old Setup, August 26 - 17 UTC
• Arena 3: New Setup, August 27 - 0 UTC
• Arena 4: Old Setup, August 27 - 17 UTC
• Arena 5: BY Setup, September 2 - 0 UTC
• Arena 6: New Setup, September 2 - 17 UTC
• Arena 7: Old Setup, September 3 - 0 UTC
• Arena 8: New Setup, September 3 - 17 UTC
• Arena 9: Old Setup, September 9 - 0 UTC 
• Arena 10: BY Setup, September 9 - 17 UTC

Remember to convert the times correctly, or go to the Arenas tab to check the start time in your timezone! If I find that not enough players come to each arena, then some times may be reconsidered.

Scoring (Regular Season)

The following scoring concepts will be applied:

1. Arena Points,
2. League Points, and
3. Playoff Points, will be used.

In accordance with the rating format being used (Solo), the arena will use the same format. This means that you only gain Arena Points from winning.

League Points are the overall determining factor for getting into playoffs, and will be distributed as such:

1. The winner of every Arena gets 3 points.
2. The 2 runner-ups of every Arena get 2 points.
3. Anybody who plays more than 15 games but doesn't qualify for either of the above gets 1 point.

At the end of the 10 arena regular season, League Points will be tallied up. The top 4 players will be chosen for the playoffs, (in the case of a crucial tie for playoff qualification, rating will be the tiebreaker; in the case that a player drops out, the player directly below them will qualify).

Scoring (Playoffs)

In the playoffs, the 4 players will play 20 games for each of the 3 setups mentioned above (for a total of 60 games, aka of a best of 60 match). The setup order will be randomly chosen before the event via a fair randomizer. Players will be asked (hopefully not multiple times) to not rematch until I announce the overall playoff scores after each game. 

Playoff points determine the winner of the league, and will be distributed as such:

• Undisputed 1st place in a game gets 1 point.
• Tied 1st place (2 players) in a game gets 0.5 points.
• In every other scenario, a player will get 0 points.
  
  

Even if a player has already clinched the victory, the match will continue until all 60 games have been finished.

Prizes

1st Place will receive 1 month of diamond membership
2nd Place will receive 1 month of platinum membership
3rd Place will receive 1 month of gold membership

Note: In the case of any tie, rating will be used as the tiebreaker.

P.S: If you have a preference for a lower tier of membership, you can always contact Chess.com Support to get them to convert it.

Sportsmanship Rules

Remember to follow Chess.com Variants rules, this means:

1. No revealing or pretending to reveal your color in chat (yes, this actually happens in speed chess quite often when some people decide to troll).
2. Loosely tying into the above, no prearranging in chat. Given the nature of this competition, however, I will be allowing players to make statements such as "This player is close to winning, play harder". 
   
   
3. Be civil. It is always encouraged that you say "gg" after the end of a game, and especially so after the end of a playoff match or arena. You are free to not do so, but don't be toxic instead.
   
   
4. Give constructive feedback to your opponents after games. Blindly blaming your opponent(s) or attempting to belittle them is heavily discouraged.

Organizers                                                                                                                        

League Director CGA: @ChessMasterGS 

Server Discord:
https://discord.gg/wyTjhHt3hE

Coordinator: @martinaxo
Admin 4PC & Variants

Clubs:
https://www.chess.com/club/four-player-chess-league

Afterword

Speed Chess as a whole on Variants has never been that organized, with players usually just playing for rating in an extremely closed pool.

With this, I hope that some competition can be sparked; if you're not 2100 yet, that's a good milestone to get to so you can participate! Even if you don't feel confident that you can make it to the playoffs, this is still a really good opportunity to face off against the best players. 

Again, remember to hit the "Follow" button located near the comments section, so you don't miss any updates, and make sure to spread the word to your fellow 4 Player Chess players!

We wish you much success!