Official NSPDCL Season 2 Rules (Replaces old rules)
~Rules are subject to change~
Ammendements:
December 29, 2020: (See Registration and Team Formation): Captains and players are no longer required to request a Q-Rating recalculation. If necessary towards the maximum rating average, the lowest accurated rating (deemed accurate by League Admins) at any point between the beginning of Team Formation and the beginning of the Season will be used as the Q-Rating
General Format
The NSPDCL will have annual seasons. Each season will consist of ? sections with 4 teams each, beginning in October the year before. For example dates we will use the dates for the 2020 season.
Registration and Team Formation
Beginning in October 2019, official team registration and formation will begin. Teams will consist of four players. At registration, each player's current daily rating will be taken if the player meets the Player Eligibility Requirements (see below) and recorded as that player's qualification rating (Q-rating). The average of a team's four players' rating must be 1500 ELO or below [EXCEPTION: See #2]. At any point before play starts for a season, any team captain may request a Q-rating recalculation of any player, and any player may request a Q-rating recalculation for themselves, given that the player still meets the Player Eligibility Requirements. [AMMENDMENT: See #3] The admins will then record their daily rating at that point as their new Q-rating. Team registration ends 3 days before the regular season opens, on December 28, 2019.
- Players may only play for one team during the duration of a season.
- If, in any prior season of NSPDCL, a team has been formed and participated according to the standard rules, that team may bring back that identical lineup in any succeeding season regardless of rating limitations.
- If necessary towards the maximum rating average, the lowest accurate rating ('accurate' is deemed by the League Admins at their discretion, based on the amount of recent games played, games timed out or resigned early, and other ratings {standard live ratings only}) at any point between the beginning of Team Formation and the beginning of the Season will be used as the Q-Rating
Player Eligibility
- All players' accounts must be at least 3 months old (October 1st of the year before the season in question) to be eligible to play in the NSPDCL. If a player's account is not 3 months old, they may participate as a Substitute Player (see #4) once their account reaches 3 months old.
- Players must have completed at least 10 daily games against humans in the past 12 months to participate in NSPDCL. If a player registers (and receives a Q-rating) before they have done so, admins will update the Q-rating to what it was after 10 games completed.
- All players must have daily timeout rates of 10% or lower in the last three months to be allowed to participate. In the event that a player has higher than a 10% timeout ratio, the admins will decide on a fair Q-rating for that player
- Substitute Players (players who take the place of a player who cannot play that month's match) may only play for one team throughout the course of the season. The substitute player's rating will count for the rating average, meaning if the average Q-rating of the team after substitutes replace the previous players, that team will not be valid and will be forfeited for the match.
Divisions/League Format
The league is divided into divisions of 4 teams (currently four divisions). The format is RR within a division; each team will play each other team in their division once. The four division winners make the playoffs, which is again a round-robin format. The four teams that get 2nd place in their division will make it into a consolation playoffs, in which teams will play a round-robin format for 5th-8th place.
Regular Season Play
On January 1, 2020, Round 1 of the 2020 regular season will begin. The NSPDCL admins will post news/forums posts with all game pairings for that round.
Players are required to challenge their opponents to games compliant to the specifications (color, time control) of the game. Games must start by one week (168 hours) from when the admins post pairings. Players must post the game links in the game link forums. All games that start after the deadline will NOT count for the league, and instead of a game result, admins will declare a forfeit result. Games that have the incorrect colors will not count.
Games will have a time control of 3 day correspondence chess, on chess.com.
If a correct challenge was sent, but not accepted, before the game-start deadline, the challenger gets a forfeit win. If one player attempted to send a challenge, but the challenge settings of the other player did not allow the first player to send the challenge, and the other player did not make an effort to change their settings and/or send a challenge to the first player, the challenger will be awarded a forfeit win. If no challenge was sent, it is a 0-0 forfeit draw.
To win a match, a team must score 8.5 or more game points in that match. To draw a match, a team must score 8 points. This means that if there are 0-0 forfeit draws, a 8-6 match, for example, would result in match points being awarded as 0.5-0, even though one team scored more points.
Round 2 will begin February 1; the same procedures will apply.
Round 3 begins March 1.
The Termination Date is July 28. On this day through the end of the month, admins will go through all still-ongoing games and adjudicate them, if the result is clear and obvious and there is no reasonable doubt. Admins will decide these together (with computer evaluations); the admins' decision is final.
If playoff teams are not decided by July 31, the admins may decide to push back the opening playoff date by a week or two. This will not, however, affect the second playoff pairings date.
Playoff Play
On August 1, 2020, unless playoff teams are not yet decided, (see above paragraph) the first round of playoff pairings will begin. Again, players will have one week to send and accept game challenges.
The second round of the playoffs will begin on September 1, 2020 (regardless of when the first round started), and the third round will begin on October 1.
The Termination Date will be December 31, 2020, but the NSPDCL champion may not be determined until the next year. Another season will start in the next year, either way.
