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The Ladder Challenge
Purpose
1. Promote friendly competition within the club. 2. Encourage the study and improvement of one’s chess. 3. Establish a structured hierarchy of performance.
Rules of Engagement
How the Ladder Works: 1. You qualify for a rung on the ladder automatically just by being a club member. The initial ladder will be created based on the USCF ratings of all club members, then list will be divided in half, then randomly placed on the ladder to make one Master List. All players joining the ladder after it has been established will enter as the bottom rung, unless the ladder manager elects to assign a higher rung of entry. If you would like to opt out of being on the initial ladder, please just let us know, and you won’t be entered. 2. The top player in the ladder does not make challenges. Only lower ranked players may challenge, and they may challenge only up to three rungs higher than their current position on the ladder at the time of the challenge. Therefore, a person holding the seventeenth rung on the ladder, for example, can challenge only the holders of rungs 14, 15, or 16. 3. The challenged player, not the player issuing the challenge, selects what color he or she wishes to play. 4. In the event of a draw, the player with the Black pieces will be considered the “victor” purely for ladder positioning purposes. 5. IF the challenger (lower rung) loses the game he will not move down the ladder. He maintains exactly the same position on the ladder as before issuing the challenge and playing the game. If the loser of a challenge occupied the higher rung, his rung number will change by one because the victor, if he is the challenger, will move to one rung higher on the ladder than the player who was challenged. If the victor was the person who was challenged, he moves one rung higher on the ladder. The loser stays in exactly the same position, same rung.
Scenario: To make the preceding five rules clearer, here is an example. Player 5 challenges player 2 at a Saturday club meeting. They agree to play then and there. Player 2, rather than choose his color (an option as the one being challenged he can exercise if he wishes to) instead holds a pawn in each hand and lets the challenger choose a hand. Challenger (Rung 5) gets the White pieces. They play, and at the end agree to call the game a draw. Player 5 stays on Rung 5 of the ladder. Player 2, because he is considered the victor of the match for drawing with Black, moves up one rung to Rung 1, which of necessity moves the player who had occupied Rung 1 down to Rung 2. If player 5 had won the game instead, he would have become the new #2 player, and the former #2 would of necessity have to occupy Rung 3.
How the Challenge Works: 1. A “match offer” for the ladder challenge may be made and accepted verbally at a scheduled club meeting, preferably in the presence of another club player, or e-mailed to the person you intend to challenge with a copied message sent to the Ladder manager at gkbattaglia@yahoo.com. Also, results should be posted as soon as possible, so if necessary, send a "result e-mail" to the ladder manager as well in order to facilitate accurate communication and rapid postings. 2. The person challenged must respond within five days and agree to coordinate a place and time with the challenger not later than four weeks from the issuance of the challenge for conducting the chess game. Failure on the part of the person challenged to meet these terms will constitute a loss and adjustments to the ladder will be made according to rule #5. 3. A challenger may issue only one challenge at a time. However, he can withdraw his outstanding challenge any time he wishes. After withdrawing the challenge, the challenger may then issue another challenge to another player. Courtesy requires that adequate (as judged by a club officer in the event of a complaint) notification be given to the previously challenged player when an accepted challenge has been withdrawn. 4. If the higher positioned opponent wins a match against the challenger, he is not obligated to accept a challenge from the same challenger for a period of 60 days after the victory. However, if he wishes to accept the challenge, he may do so. Once 60 days have expired, rule #2 for an issued challenge comes back into effect.
Game Format: Game/60, with a five second increment preferred, if digital clocks are being used. The time may be changed to a slower or faster time control if both opponents agree. Otherwise, Game/60 is the default time control. The games will not be rated unless both players state beforehand they wish the game to be rated and complete payment is made to a club officer in advance for having the game rated. The game will be played under all standard USCF rules (e.g., the touch-move rule and the necessity of maintaining a score of the game, etc.).
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