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.
Q. Why play in a Team?
ChessWorld Teams form a vital component of our Leagues. ChessWorld Teams 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 the chance to exchange messages and ideas using one of the many Team Forums that are available.
Team Captains play a vital role in recruiting players and selecting them for various matches, often deciding which is the best Board to play them on, so as to increase their chances of winning more games, and hence Team Titles.
Q. How does a Captain decide board order?
Generally the highest rated player should be playing board one with the next strongest player on board 2, and so on.
If a player is too busy, or does not want to play in League matches, the Captain marks them as 90 on the Team list. This code, when viewed by other players shows Reserve.
If the Captain does not make any changes other than to allocate board numbers, the default value of 0 is shown. This means that the player is available for 'pairing' and may possibly be committed to playing for their Team in a League match.
Q. How does a Captain change board order?
The Captain can only change board order before a League division is created. When a Captain sees the Team homepage, there are a number of blank boxes to the left of each player on the Team. The Captain should insert the board number that he, or she, wishes that player to have and then press the Adjust board order button.
Q. How does a Captain effectively promote a Team to get seven players?
There are a number of ways of promoting a Team including:
Specific targeting of players Visit Join Games ... Search by Interest and search by using keywords related to the Team theme. Once a list of players having similar interests is produced go to their homepage and use the Invite to Team link. If the selected player has chosen to block Team Invites then, if they are a potentially strong candidate for the Team, message them direct via their hompage and check if they may be interested.
Using the Promotion link on the Team homepage. This will send an automatic post to the Forum showing the Team name, philosophy, and a link to the Team homepage.
Requesting the League promoter to post a promotion message to the Forums. Promoters have an automated link to do this on the League homepage which will send an automated message to the Forum, showing all Teams that need players for the next League Division.
Messaging your opponents or people on your friends list to join your Team. Alternatively, use the Invite to Team link on their homepage.
Making someone else Team Captain. If you no longer have time to do the promotion activities above give another Team Member the chance to build the Team!
Q. Are there substitution possibilities if a Team member stops playing for whatever reason?
Yes, the Captain can substitute a player who is no longer playing or wishes to stop playing. They can do this, after 5 days have elapsed from the players last move, by going to the Team homepage and putting a - (minus) sign in the box for the player to be removed, and a + (plus) sign for the player to be substituted on.
Substitutions can take place as long as no more than 20 full moves, (40 half moves), have been played in the official Team League divisions.
This means that the player to be substituted must have played no more than 20 moves, in total, across all games that he, or she, is involved in. For example, if a player has played 4 moves in one game, 5 moves in another, 6 moves in a third, and 7 moves in a fourth, a total of 22 moves, then he, or she, could not be substituted. Had the player made 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 moves respectively, a total of 20 moves, then a substitution would be possible.
Q. Why have some of my Team Members been given a status of 90?
The 90 value is automatically assigned by the system if a player has not logged in for more than 35 days. This means that they become Reserve, or non-playing players.
Q. How many strong players are allowed in a Team?
In the interests of fairness to all Team players, each Team may only have one active, playing, Member with a ChessWorld rating above 2500 at the start of play; any subsequent changes in rating are ignored. This restriction applies to all Leagues, with the exception of the Champions League and the Huge Teams League. No restrictions apply to friendly Team games.
Q. What are the different board orders?
The primary board order is the League Division board order.
This is the board order which will be used to pair Teams together when the next League Division is created. For example, say your Team is called 'The Smurfs' and there is another Team called 'The Gremlins'. If the Smurfs Captain assigns the player called 'Papa Smurf' on Board 1, and the Gremlins have a player called 'Gremus the Gremlin' on board 1, then these two players will be playing each other when the League Division is started. Board 2's will play Board 2's. Board 3's will play Board 3's, and so on.
For Individual Team challenges there are also the Team challenge order and the Team accept order. These two board orders are for individual friendly matches with other Teams. If a Captain wishes to privately challenge another Team, they can do this by setting the Team challenge board order. Then they can go to the Team homepage of the Team they wish to challenge, and use the challenge link. When an individual Team challenge is received, the Captain needs to set the challenge accept order. The system will pair the two Teams according to the Team challenge and accept orders. For example, if a Team challenge was issued for 1-7, but the Team challenged can only provide 6 players 1-6, then the system will just match 1-6.
Q. Can I join more than one Team?
Yes, as long as the Teams are in different Leagues.
Q. Can I be the Captain of more than one Team?
Yes. The role of Captain can, at times, be quite onerous and you should only undertake multi-Captaincies if you are confident that you can fully support all of the Teams with which you are involved. In order to avoid the possibility that any one player may become overloaded you are limited to being a Captain of a maximum of 10 Teams.
Exceptionally, at the present time there is no limit on the number of Teams which you may Captain within the Huge Teams League. However, you should be aware that we monitor all such Captaincies and if there is evidence of neglect or inactivity we reserve the right to withdraw any or all of such Captaincies without notice.
Q. How can I leave a Team?
If the Team is already playing, then you should ask your Captain to
substitute you. Otherwise, if the Team is waiting for the next Division, you can
simply use the I wish to leave this team link which is on the Team homepage. If this does not work, because your Division is still in progress, message your Captain to remove you if you have finished all your games. They can remove you by putting an asterisk, * , by your name and pressing Submit .
You may, if you wish, stop playing for the Team, but place yourself on the Reserve list. Simply press the I wish to leave this team BUT join the Reserves of the latest league of this team link.
Q. When does a League division start?
When there are five Teams with seven players each and the Captains have assigned the board orders 1-7 to their Team players. The League promoter, or a player, can then contact the HelpDesk and ask an Admin to pair the next Team League. Alternatively, an Admin will do this in due course.
Q. Can we play matches before the League division starts?
Yes, you can issue individual Team challenges. Your Captain needs to set your individual Team challenge board order. When that has been done they can go to another Team's homepage and use the Friendly Team challenge option.
Q. Are there plans for more than 5 Teams per division?
The current defaults are divisions of 5 Teams, each with 7 players. These defaults are reviewed periodically.
Q. How many players can I recruit to my Team?
Other than in the Huge Teams context each Team is limited to a maximum of 10 players. This allows for seven active players and three reserves.
Q. What if I want a big Team - more than 7 players?
The Team must be in the dedicated Huge Teams League to avoid conflicts of interests with official League Team matches held in other Leagues.
The Captain needs to visit another Huge Team homepage and use the Friendly Team challenge option or the Individual Team challenge match facility. The Captain assigns the individual Team challenge board order, 1 .. n, where n is the number of players, and where 0 represents a reserve player.
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