ChessWorld - Teams FAQ's

Although Chess is a two player game, it can still be great fun to play as part of a Team. The concept of ChessWorld Teams stems from the Webmaster's extensive experience in playing for a number of Chess Clubs in real life. Chess Clubs often play in Leagues which allow them to play home and away matches against other clubs. The concept of ChessWorld Leagues is a natural extension of this and is based upon various affinity and interest groups.

ChessWorld Teams form a vital component of our Leagues. They are based upon affinity or interest groups and offer the chance to play against likeminded players from around the world. Many of the ChessWorld Teams are actively playing both Team and friendly games and the players enjoy exchanging messages and ideas using Team Forums.

Team Captains play a vital role in recruiting players and selecting them for matches, often deciding which is the best Board to play them on to maximize win chances and Team Titles.

Generally, the highest rated player should play board one, the next strongest on board two, and so on.

If a player is too busy or doesn't want to play League matches, the Captain marks them as 90, shown as Reserve.

A value of 0 means the player is available for pairing and may be committed to playing for their Team.

The Captain can change board order before a League division is created. On the Team homepage, the Captain can assign board numbers using blank boxes next to players and then click Adjust board order.

• Target players: Use "Join Games ... Search by Interest" and invite players via their homepage.
• Promotion link: Use the Team homepage's promotion link to post automatically to the Forum.
• Ask the League promoter to post a Forum message with all Teams needing players.
• Message opponents or friends with the Invite to Team link.
• Appoint another Captain if time is an issue.

Yes. After 5 days of inactivity, the Captain can substitute a player using a minus sign (–) for the removed player and a plus sign (+) for the substitute.

This is allowed only if the removed player has played no more than 20 full moves (40 half-moves) across all games in the League division.

The 90 value is automatically assigned if a player hasn't logged in for over 35 days. It marks them as Reserve or non-playing.

To ensure fairness, each Team may have only one active member with a ChessWorld rating above 2500 at the start of play (except in the Champions League and Huge Teams League). There is no restriction in friendly Team games.

The primary board order is the League Division board order. This determines player pairings when the next League Division is created. For example, if ‘The Smurfs’ assign ‘Papa Smurf’ to Board 1 and ‘The Gremlins’ assign ‘Gremus the Gremlin’ to Board 1, these two players will be paired. The same applies for Boards 2, 3, etc. For Individual Team challenges, there are also “Team challenge” and “Team accept” board orders used for friendly matches. The challenge/accept pairing logic ensures that if one team challenges with 7 players and the other only has 6, then only boards 1–6 will be paired.

Yes, as long as the Teams are in different Leagues.

Yes. However, Captaining multiple Teams can be demanding. You're limited to a maximum of 10 Teams (except in the Huge Teams League, which currently has no limit). The system may revoke Captaincy if neglect is observed.

If the Team is active, ask the Captain to substitute you. If waiting for the next Division, use the I wish to leave this team link on the Team homepage. If this fails, ask your Captain directly to remove you. You can also opt to stay as a Reserve using the I wish to leave this team BUT join the Reserves link.

When five Teams each have seven assigned players and Captains have set board orders 1–7. An Admin can then be contacted to create the division, or it may occur automatically in due course.

Yes. Captains can issue individual Team challenges by setting board orders and using the Friendly Team challenge option on other Team homepages.

Currently, 5-Team divisions with 7 players each are the default. This is periodically reviewed.

Outside of the Huge Teams context, each Team may have a maximum of 10 players — 7 active and 3 reserves.

Your Team must join the Huge Teams League. There, Captains can issue challenges using extended board orders (1 to n, where 0 indicates a reserve).