The Atomic Chess League - Season 2

Tournament Format

There are two separate leagues, the Elite League and the Challenger League. Each league is composed of 4 teams. Each team is composed of 5 players. All numbers may be adjusted depending on the final number of participants.

Teams of the same league take part in a round-robin in 3 rounds. Every two weeks, a team will be paired against another, until all teams have played against each other. Winning a team match grants 1 point, drawing grants 0.5 point. The team with the most points in the end is declared as the champion. Head-to-head results and game win rate are used in case of a tie.

Registration

To register, a player must post in the “Registration” forum thread of The Atomic Chess League team, by saying they want to play. If they are willing to be a team captain, they must say so as well.
Only non-marked accounts which are at least 4-months old and have a minimum of 500 rated atomic games will be accepted. Unknown alt accounts may be asked by the organizers to reveal their main account to be accepted.
Players have until February 4 to register. Before registering, please make sure that you will have enough time to play, so you don’t abandon your teammates in the middle of the tournament.

Constitution of teams

• Elite League

Once the total number of participants is confirmed, the organizers will select the team captains of the Elite League, out of all the players who declared they are willing to be team captains.
Those captains will then be added on a mutual group chat, to participate in a snake draft. One by one, they will recruit a registered player in their team, until each team is complete. Captains may then be allowed to trade players, if they both agree to it.

• Challenger League

After Elite League teams are formed, in case there are at least 20 players who registered but haven’t been recruited yet, those players can join the Challenger League.

The organizers will select the team captains of the Challenger League, out of all the players who declared they are willing to be team captains.
Those captains will then be added on a mutual group chat, to participate in a snake draft. One by one, they will recruit a registered player in their team, until each team is complete. Captains may then be allowed to trade players, if they both agree to a trade.

Player-match format

Every two weeks, once teams have been paired, each captain will assign one of their players to each of the 5 time controls, 3+2, 3+0, 1+2, 1+0, or 1/2+0, and message @maxwellssilvrhaMMer (or @HowlinD for the Challenger League) with which time control each team member will be playing.
Then, each team member must coordinate a time to play their match with the player of the opposing team assigned the same time control. Players must propose match times using the UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) format. If they fail to schedule, an organizer will determine who is at fault for being the least available or the least communicative.
Once a match time is agreed, the players should post it in the “Scheduling and results” forum thread of The Atomic Chess League team, and then report the results on the same forum thread once that match has been played.

Match lengths are as follows:
3+2: 8 rated games
3+0: 10 rated games
1+2: 14 rated games
1+0: 20 rated games
1/2+0: 30 rated games
One 5-minute break is allowed per player.

If a match is “clinched” (for example, when a player reaches more than 5.5 points in the 3+0 match, meaning the opponent cannot win the match anymore), either player can decide to stop playing (as long as the amount of games is even, meaning that each player has had an equal amount of white games).
The player who stops the match and leaves, while there is an unequal amount of white games, is considered to have forfeited the unplayed game to the opponent.
Once a match is clinched and the amount of games is even, the result is used to calculate the win rate. Both players may agree to keep playing until they reach the full amount of games, but this will not impact the win rate.

Team-match format

The team who wins is the team with the highest average win rate across all boards. This means the team with the most player-match wins doesn’t always win!
This is important to understand: if three players from Team A win their matches against Team B, by 5.5-4.5 (55% win rate), 8-6 (57% win rate), and 17-11 (61% win rate), but the other two players lose their matches by 0-6 (0% win rate) and 2-16 (11% win rate), then Team B wins the match!
Indeed, the average win rate for each board of Team A is (55%+57%+61%+0+11%)/5=32%, against the 68% of Team B. Every game counts.
In case two teams have a 50% win rate, the team with the most player-matches won is the winner. If this is equal too, then the teams draw.

Before you leave...

That's it for now! Make sure to join The Atomic Chess League team, and don't forget to register before February 4. Feel free to check out the results of the ACL Season 1 as a refresher.

If you enjoy atomic chess tournaments, take note that another tournament, the Atomic960 Swiss, starts very soon, and you have until February 8 to register. The very best players are already signed up: did you ever wonder how you measure to them without their theory?