LoneWolf Rules and Regulations

How to play in LoneWolf

  • If you're interested in joining, register online. Note that we only accept registrations from around two weeks before a LoneWolf season begins to the start of Round 8. Registrations are closed from Round 8 onwards, and are only re-opened shortly before the start of the following season.
  • If league moderators approve your registration, you'll receive an email inviting you to join the Lichess4545 Slack workspace...so then you need to join it!
  • When you join the workspace, first link your Slack account by sending a Direct Message (DM) to @chesster with the single word "link". If you're not sure how to do this, seek help in the #welcome, #lonewolf-general or #general channels.
  • All LoneWolf players should join the #lonewolf-general, #lonewolf-scheduling and #lonewolf-games channels.
  • During the season, pairings are released every Monday at 21:00 UTC.
  • You can set your availability for each round on https://www.lichess4545.com/lonewolf/season/21/availability/edit/ [note: link only valid for Season 21]
  • For every round where you have set yourself as available, shortly after pairings have been published, you will receive a direct message on Slack from @chesster that will include your opponent. 
  • You have 24 hours to message your opponent in this thread - either offering them times you can play or responding to their offered times.
  • Please list all times in UTC - this just makes it easy for everyone.
  • Once a time has been agreed, either you or your opponent should post it in #lonewolf-scheduling. If you're not sure how to do this, just follow the formats used by other players in the channel. Please confirm that your opponent is OK with playing at a certain time before posting it.
  • When it's time to play, either you or your opponent has to send the other player a challenge on Lichess for a standard rated 30+30 game, making sure that each player is assigned the correct colour. (If not, chesster should message you about it!)  
  • Then you just need to play your game. Chesster will automatically know when your game starts and ends, and the result will be posted immediately in #lonewolf-games (which is why we advise players to join this channel). The result will also show up immediately on the website's round pairings page.
  • All games must be completed by 21:00 UTC on the following Monday, in time for the next round's pairings to be released. Please bear this in mind when scheduling your games.     
  • Make sure you're aware of the league's rules (below). It's also a good idea to familiarise yourself with the Lichess4545 Terms of Service.

 


 

LoneWolf Rules

Note: These rules are built on the Lichess4545 Terms of Service. Please note that they are neither set in stone nor meant to be punitive. Their overriding principle is to allow the league to function smoothly. To that effect, league moderators reserve the right to add and/or modify the rules when necessary.

If you have any questions about the rules, you should first ask them in Slack! If you don’t get an answer, or if your question is urgent, you can contact the moderators by typing "@chesster summon mods" in the #lonewolf-general channel. Please do not contact individual mods directly.

I. Player Eligibility

Anyone who wishes to play in the Lonewolf leagues must:

  • Comply with the Player Eligibility requirements set out in the Lichess 4545 Terms of Service
  • Players who have played in the Lonewolf or Lichess4545 leagues in previous seasons are allowed to join the open section even when their lichess classical rating is provisional at the time of their registration.
  • To be eligible for the U1800 section players must not have exceeded a lichess classical rating of 1800 in the three months prior to their registration.

II. League

  1. The Lone Wolf League format will be as follows:
    1. 11 round Swiss
    2. For each game that a player wins they receive 1 point, for each draw they receive 0.5 points and for each loss they receive 0 points
    3. Players are entitled to unlimited byes (worth 0.5 points) provided they ask for them 4 hours before pairings are released for any round.
    4. Players may join the league and withdraw up to 4 hours before pairings are released for any round.
      1. At the discretion of the moderators, players joining the league will be given points appropriate to their rating to ensure that they are paired with players of a similar rating. These points will be removed from their point totals for the final standings.
  2. ​​Half-point bye policy:
    1. ​Players may request half-point byes up to four hours before a new round's pairings are released.
    2. There is no limit on the number of half-point byes a player may request.
    3. If you late join you will only receive a maximum of 2 half-point byes for the games you have missed. Further adjustment of your score will be performed using points allocated as described in II.A.4.2
    4. If your position in the standings will be improved by the allocation of a half-point bye the moderators may decide to award a zero-point bye in order to maintain your approximate position in the standings.
    5. If you win a game by forfeit against a higher rated player, you may request a half-point or zero-point bye instead. These byes are provided at the discretion of the moderators.
  3. The League is organized by a team of moderators.
    1. You can reach the moderators by posting "@chesster summon mods" in the slack channel #lonewolf-general. A moderator will usually ask for a short description of the problem before deciding whether to address in private or public channels.
    2. Moderators will make binding decisions regarding:
      1. Disputes between players
      2. Rule clarifications
      3. Player forfeiture
      4. Any other issue of importance to the League as a whole
    3. When applicable, moderators will refer to the rules and regulations of the USCF and FIDE as a guide to resolve disputes. However, the decisions are completely up to the moderators.
  4. The time control for all games will be 30 minutes with a 30 second increment (30+30)
  5. Each round starts on Mondays at 21:00 UTC and end on the following Monday at 21:00 UTC. Moderators might decide to extend the duration of individual rounds of an upcoming season before registration for that season is opened.

The Lonewolf league is organized on the Slack workspace lichess4545.slack.com in the channels #lonewolf-general, #lonewolf-scheduling, and #lonewolf-games. Players who participate in the Lonewolf league are required to join these channels.

III. Scheduling

  1. Pairings for a round are published on the league’s website. Players will also receive a pairing message from the league bot @chesster that puts them in touch with their opponent. Once the pairings for a round have been released players must contact their opponents by replying to @chesster’s pairing message in order to schedule the game.
    1. If you did not receive this message from chesster, please summon the mods.
  2. Each player must offer a reasonable range of times on different days to their opponent. If a time cannot be agreed upon, a result will be determined by the moderators based on the effort put forth by each player to find a suitable time.
  3. If a player will not have the availability to make a reasonable effort to schedule their games, they should set themselves unavailable for the respective round. The availability has to be set 4 hours before the round starts.
  4. If an agreed time cannot be reached after both players have made their initial offer, both players should continue to offer times until an agreed time is found.
  5. All players must confirm their scheduled game time. We ask you post your scheduled game time in #lonewolf-scheduling.
  6. All games have to be scheduled such that they are finished before the end of the round, which is on Mondays at 21:00 UTC.

IV. No Response Policy

  1. If one player does not contact their opponent in the first 24 hours after their pairing was published, their opponent shall contact the moderators as soon as possible. The opponent can request a forfeit win for the game, or ask the moderators to get a new pairing. If a new pairing cannot be made, the opponent will receive a full point for the round.
  2. In order to get a new pairing or a forfeit win, the player must contact the Moderators with a screenshot of a conversation on Slack with no answer.
  3. Upon receiving a claim of no-response, the Moderators will withdraw the non-responsive player from the league.
  4. The non-responsive player can request to continue participating in the season. They will receive a link from @chesster that they should use to submit this request.

V. No-Show Policy

  1. If either player is not online at the appointed time, they will have a grace period of 20 minutes to appear, otherwise they will forfeit the game.
  2. If either player is online, but does not challenge or accept the challenge of their opponent and make their first move within 20 minutes of the appointed time, they will forfeit the game.
  3. After the 20 minute grace period has expired, and in order to claim a forfeit, players should record a time-stamped screenshot showing one of the following:
    • Their opponent is offline.
    • They have issued a challenge, but their opponent has not accepted.
    • They have issued a challenge, but their opponent has declined.
  4. @chesster should message the player who was online. In order to claim a forfeit, the claiming player must follow the instructions and attach the screenshot above. This claim will automatically be approved. @chesster will offer the other player the right to appeal.
  5. In case chesster does not make contact, the claiming player must summon the mods and provide them with the time-stamped screenshot referred to above.
  6. If the player can prove that they were online, available, attempted to challenge or accept a challenge, or in any other way refute the no-show accusation, their OPPONENT shall lose by forfeit.
  7. Any player forfeiting a game due to a no-show  will receive a yellow card.
  8. Upon receiving a no-show claim, the Moderators may withdraw the forfeited player from the league.
  9. The forfeited player can request to continue participating in the season. They will receive a link from @chesster that they should use to submit this request.
  10. Each player receives a single "Life Happens" credit at the beginning of a season. They may use this to avoid a yellow card if they notify the moderators and their opponent in advance.  A forfeit win is still awarded to their opponent, but no yellow card.

VI. Cheating Policy

In the Lonewolf league, cheating is defined as one or more of the following:

  • the use of computer assistance
  • artificially increasing or decreasing one’s rating
  • the use of an opening book (in any medium)
  • playing out variations on a Lichess analysis (or other online) board during a game
  • playing out variations on a physical board during a game
  • discussing any matter relating to an ongoing game, including draw opportunities, with anyone else (including a team captain)
  • receiving assistance from any other source during a game, including from stream chat (if streaming)
  • observing the spectator chat of one’s own game for any reason
  • losing a game terminated due to a “cheat detected” mark

 

Players suspected of violating the Lichess Terms of Service should be reported to Lichess using https://lichess.org/report. When players are suspected of breaking any of the cheating rules that do not necessarily violate Lichess's Terms (such as violating the leagues' streamer guidelines), they should be reported to the league moderators on Slack or Lichess.

For example, if a player suspects that another player has consulted an engine during a league game, they should report that player to Lichess.

Any player whose account is banned by Lichess for any Lichess ToS violations will immediately be banned from the leagues, removed from the league Slack workspace, and have their results in any current season(s) revised to forfeit losses. Any such player may only become eligible again for the leagues if their ban is removed by Lichess, after which they may request re-entry via the contact page.

Any player determined to have broken one or more of the leagues' cheating rules for actions that do not violate the Lichess ToS is likely to receive a warning for a first offence, but subsequent or repeated infractions will likely lead to a temporary or even permanent league ban, depending on the impact and severity of the player's actions. Banned players are immediately removed from the league Slack workspace and may have their results in ongoing season(s) revised to forfeit losses.

 

VII. Closing Lichess Accounts

Players are not allowed to close their Lichess accounts while a season is still ongoing in which they have participated, even if they withdrew before closing their Lichess account. If a player closes their Lichess account, all their games of the ongoing season will be turned into forfeit losses. See the respective section in our Terms of Service for details.

VIII. Game Play Policy

  • Game settings
    1. Both players are responsible to ensure they are playing with the correct colours and in the correct time control, 30+30.
    2. All league games must be rated games played on Lichess.
    3. If one player notices an error in their game’s settings before White has played their tenth (10th) move, the game must be restarted with the correct settings.
    4. If an error in the time control or colour assignment is only noticed after White has played their tenth (10th) move, the game will be considered official and both players must play on. This rule is based on USCF Rule 11F: “If an incorrect starting position or the game was started with colors reversed within the first 10 moves, the game is annulled and started over. If discovered after Black's 10th move, the game continues.”
    5. If a game is played unrated, it will be at the league moderators’ discretion to decide if the game can be accepted as an official league game.
  • Draws without reasonable effort
    1. If league moderators determine that a game was drawn without either player making reasonable effort, the game will be treated as invalid and given a 0F-0F result. This rule is based on USCF Rule 14B6: “It is unethical and unsporting to agree to a draw before a serious contest has begun. The same is true of all arrangements to prearrange game results. In case of clear violations of the moral principles of the game, penalties should be imposed at the director’s discretion.”
  • Not using the “Claim Victory” and “Claim Draw” features
    1. In all leagues, players are not permitted to use the “Claim Victory” or “Claim Draw” features of Lichess if/when an opponent disconnects.
    2. If a player uses this feature to erroneously claim victory in a league game, the game should be continued from the terminated position with the same amount of time remaining for each side as in the game.
    3. If a player claims victory in this manner and does not return to continue the game, they will forfeit the game.
    4. Conversely, any player disconnecting from a game with the intention of wasting their opponent’s time will receive a warning from league moderators. Action may be taken for repeated offences up to and including expulsion from the league. Players who experience such behaviour from opponents in league games should notify league moderators and also report incidents of stalling to Lichess using https://lichess.org/report.
  • Takebacks are not mandatory
    1. It is not mandatory to allow takebacks in league games.
    2. In other words, if a player makes an unintended move in a league game, they may request a takeback if they so wish, but their opponent has the right to refuse the request for any reason without incurring any penalty.
    3. Players who wish to reduce the risk of blundering by “mouseslip” in their league games are therefore advised to turn on Lichess’s move confirmation feature before the start of their games.
  • Respect rule 
    1. Players are encouraged to take their league games as seriously as possible in order to respect their opponents (and their team, if applicable). Players are free to use their time as they wish during a game, but league moderators will warn players if they determine that games are not being taken seriously, and players can be banned if their behaviour doesn't change.

IX. Penalties

  • The Lonewolf league enforces a system of yellow and red cards for players who either fail to contact their opponents within a certain time following the release of pairings or fail to show up to their games.
  • These penalties can be easily avoided by familiarising oneself with the Lonewolf rules and clearly communicating any issues ahead of time with opponent(s) and league moderators, as well as team captain(s) and teammates where applicable.
  • A yellow card may be awarded for:
    • Missing a scheduled game, which will also typically result in a forfeit loss. However, if a player provides evidence to league moderators that they gave advance notice to their opponent, in most cases the game will still be forfeited but the yellow card will not be awarded.
    • Not contacting an opponent on Slack within 24 hours of round pairings being released. Also, if the game is eventually played despite the late initial contact, a warning may be given to the player instead, especially if it's a first offence.
    • Insufficient effort to schedule a game, as determined by the league’s scheduling rules.
  • Yellow cards and warnings may be given for other offences at league moderators’ discretion.
  • A second yellow card offence will automatically result in a red card.
  • A player with a red card in a specific league will be withdrawn from the current season of Lonewolf. Should they choose to register for another season of that league, they will carry over a yellow card into the next season they play.
  • Players will typically be notified by @chesster and/or league moderators when they receive a yellow card. Yellow and red cards are indicated next to players’ names in the league standings. 
  • Players who consistently receive cards over several seasons may be banned from playing the next season (or even permanently).