Lichess Ladders

The Rules

Correspondence ladders are slightly different to classical ladders. With correspondence ladders, there is no need to negotiate a time or schedule a game: this will be done automatically for you. Rules marked with * aren't relevant for corresponce ladders.

  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 the first challenge you make, when you can challenge anybody above you who is available
  4. You can only challenge one person per ladder at a time
  5. By default you can only be challenged by one person per ladder at a time. You can changed this to two people from the ladder page.
  6. If you have been challenged, you can still challenge somebody else
  7. If you have an open challenge (either as a challenger or defender), you cannot be challenged, unless you have set the option to allow a second challenge
  8. If you are challenged to a classical* game, you must reply via the challenges page within 36 hours or you will automatically forfeit the game
  9. If you are challenged to a classical* game, you have 3 days* to schedule a time to play (*2 for the fast moving ladder)
  10. You must accept challenges, unless*:
    • You are in the bottom half of a classical ladder
    • and your rating is not provisional
    • and your challenger’s rating is provisional
    • and your challenger’s rating is lower than yours
  11. In these limited circumstances, you may cancel the challenge with no penalty*
  12. You can only join a ladder if you have played at least 12 hours of lichess under any time control (not just classical)
  13. You must play the game within 14 days† of being challenged (†7 for the fast moving ladder)
  14. All games should be played rated
  15. All communication between you and your opponent should be carried out via your challenges page, unless otherwise agreed
  16. Since players are in various timezones, please use UTC for all discussions of times*
  17. Once you have agreed a time to play, you must post it on your challenges page
  18. 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 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
  19. You can only dispute a forfeit if the forfeit was made in bad faith / is factually wrong
    • Acceptable reasons for disputing a forfeit include:
      • You did actually make a best-effort attempt to arrange a game
      • It was your opponent, not you, who didn't turn up for the game
    • Unacceptable reasons for disputing a forfeit include:
      • You forgot
      • You were ill / had to go to hospital
      • You got confused about timezones
      • You had some sort of personal / work emergency
  20. If you dispute a forfeit, you must email admin@lichessladders.com with the reason for the dispute within 4 hours
  21. If you repeatedly leave games, you will have a strike given against you
  22. Strikes:
    • On the first strike, you will get a warning and be placed on a break for 7 days
    • On the second strike, you will be moved to the bottom of all ladders and placed on a break for 7 days
    • On the third strike, you will be banned from the site
    • Strikes are shared across ladders
    • Strikes expire after 6 weeks
  23. If, despite both players' both efforts, you cannot arrange a classical game within 3 days of the challenge, the challenger can cancel the challenge
  24. The challenger plays white
  25. If the lower-ranked player wins, they take the higher-ranked player's spot, and the higher-ranked player moves down one spot
  26. If the higher-ranked player wins, nothing changes
  27. In the case of a draw, the lower ranked player takes the position under the higher-ranked player
  28. You can take a break from a ladder at any point, but you cannot rejoin until at least 7 days have passed
  29. 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.
  30. If you take a break, you still need to play any games that are currently scheduled
  31. If you have been on a break for more than 12 weeks you will be removed from the ladder
  32. 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.
  33. 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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