Lichess Ladders

The Rules

  1. When you join a ladder, you start at the bottom of the ladder
  2. You may normally challenge anyone who is:
    • One, two, three or four places above you in the ladder
    • If the ladder has 50 or more active participants, this range is increased to 10% of the number of active participants
    • Has not currently made, or received, a challenge
    • Is not currently taking a break
  3. The one exception to this is your the first challenge you make, when you can challenge anybody above you who is available
  4. You can only have one open challenge per ladder at a time (i.e. if you have challenged somebody, or somebody has challenged you, you cannot challenge or be challenged until you have played that game)
  5. If you are challenged to a game, you have 3 days* to schedule a time to play (*2 for the fast moving ladder)
  6. You must accept challenges, unless:
    • You are in the bottom half of the ladder
    • and your rating is not provisional
    • and your challenger’s rating is provisional
    • and your challenger’s rating is lower than yours
  7. You can only join a ladder if you have played at least 12 hours of lichess under any time control (not just classical)
  8. In these limited circumstances, you may cancel the challenge with no penalty
  9. You must play the game within 14 days* of being challenged (*7 for the fast moving ladder)
  10. All games should be played rated
  11. All communication between you and your opponent should be carried out via Lichess messages, unless otherwise agreed
  12. Since players are in various timezones, please use UTC for all discussions of times
  13. Once you have agreed a time to play, you must post it on your challenges page
  14. If a game is not arranged or played, or if the game is not started within 15 minutes of the scheduled start time, then:
    • You have 24 hours to claim a forfeit
    • Your opponent then has 24 hours dispute the forfeit
    • If, however, the case is clear cut then an arbiter may agree the forfeit sooner
    • If the forfeit is disputed, an arbiter will make a decision
    • If a forfeit is decided against you, then you will lose the game and accumulate a strike
    • If no forfeit is claimed then the game is annulled
  15. Strikes:
    • On the first strike, you will get a warning
    • On the second strike, you will be moved to the bottom of all ladders and placed on holiday for 7 days
    • On the third strike, you will be banned from the site
    • Strikes are shared across ladders
  16. If, despite both players' both efforts, you cannot arrange a game within 3 days of the challenge, the challenger can cancel the challenge
  17. The challenger plays white
  18. If the lower-ranked player wins, they take the higher-ranked player's spot, and the higher-ranked player moves down one spot
  19. If the higher-ranked player wins, nothing changes
  20. In the case of a draw, the lower ranked player takes the position under the higher-ranked player
  21. You can take a break from a ladder at any point, but you cannot rejoin until at least 7 days have passed
  22. If you are on a break, you will drop one place for every 10 days you are on a break. This is cumulative - if you take a break for 7 days, come back for a day, then take a break you will lose a place after 3 days. If you've been available continuously for 21 days then the counter resets: you can take a 9 day break, come back for 21 days, and take another 9 day break without any penalty.
  23. If you take a break, you still need to play any games that are currently scheduled
  24. After you have played a game, there is a 8 hour cooling down period. If you have just made a challenge, you cannot make another one during the cool down. If you have defended a challenge, nobody else can challenge you. This is so both players have time to challenge and be challenged.
  25. Once you've played a game with somebody, one of you has to play somebody else before you can play the same person again

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