You are not logged in.  Sign in with Lichess.

ACWC Rules (2021 edition)

  1. Organization
    1. The ACWC will be played on Lichess.
    2. The 2021 Tournament Directors (TDs) are ODMWND and Shiaxou.
    3. In case of disputes between participants, the TDs should be contacted, who will make the final call.
    4. Failure in complying to the rules can lead to a match forfeit or tournament disqualification, at TDs' discretion.
  2. Player eligibility
    1. Entry requirements
      1. Your Lichess account must be created prior to March 1, 2021, 00:00 UTC.
      2. You must have played at least 100 rated Antichess games on Lichess prior to September 1, 2021, 00:00 UTC.
    2. Qualifications will be handled by a Lichess admin, disqualifying elements include:
      1. You have an account that was marked as an engine user after September 1, 2018.
      2. You have an account that was marked as a Booster/Sandbagging after September 1, 2020.
      3. "Cheat detected" games will be grounds for disqualification in the following cases:
        1. one since September 1, 2020
        2. two since September 1, 2018
      4. You already entered the ACWC 2021 with another account. Your already entered account will also be disqualified if you try to join with two accounts.
      5. BOT accounts cannot play.
  3. Format
    1. All games are rated and have 2+5 as time control.
    2. The tournament will consist of four stages: Qualification (Swiss), Candidates (Double round-robin), Semifinals (1v1) and the Grand Final and Third Place Playoff (1v1).
    3. PepsiNGaming, as 2020 world champion, is allowed to start in the Candidates upper pool.
    4. GrohochetGrom, as 2020 runner-up, is allowed to start in the Candidates lower pool.
    5. Qualification
      1. A Swiss tournament will be played between all entrants (except PepsiNGaming and GrohochetGrom). Each participant plays a 10-game match per round. A won game gives 1 point, a tie gives 0.5 points, and a lost game gives 0 points. Once either player reaches 5.5 points the players are allowed to stop there.
      2. The number of rounds will be the base-2 logarithm of the number of participants, rounded down, plus two. So 32-63 players is 7 rounds, 64-127 players is 8 rounds, etc.
      3. Your seeding rating is equal to the average of your Antichess rating at September 1, 2021, 00:00 UTC and your highest Antichess rating between March 1, 2021, 00:00 UTC and September 1, 2021, 00:00 UTC.
      4. The 10 players that place highest in the Swiss (or more if PepsiNGaming or GrohochetGrom doesn’t play) will proceed to the next round.
      5. Ties will broken (in order) by:
        1. Median-Buchholz.
        2. Cumulative score.
        3. Seed in Qualification round.
      6. Pairings will be taken care of by the TDs and will be posted on Lichess weekly.
    6. Candidates
      1. A double round-robin tournament among the candidates will be played, where the “upper” and “lower” pools of 6 players each are determined by placement in the previous rounds. PepsiNGaming starts in the upper pool, and GrohochetGrom starts in the lower pool. If PepsiNGaming does not participate, then GrohochetGrom starts in the upper pool.
      2. The players that go into each Candidate group will be divided accordingly:
        1. If PepsiNGaming and GrohochetGrom both participate, the players in 10th, 7th, 6th, 3rd and 1st place from the Qualification stage go into the “lower” Candidate pool. The players in 9th, 8th, 5th, 4th and 2nd place go into the “upper” Candidates pool.
        2. If only one of PepsiNGaming and GrohochetGrom participates, the players in 11th, 8th, 7th, 4th, 2nd and 1st place go into the “lower” Candidates pool. The players in 10th, 9th, 6th, 5th and 3rd place go into the “upper” Candidates pool.
        3. If neither PepsiNGaming nor GrohochetGrom participates, the players in 12th, 9th, 7th, 6th, 4th and 1st place go into the “upper” Candidates pool. The players in 11th, 10th, 8th, 5th, 3rd and 2nd place go into the “lower” Candidates pool.
      3. Each candidate plays a 10-game match against each other candidate in their pool. A won game gives 1 point, a drawn game gives 0.5 points, a lost game gives 0 points.
      4. All 10 games must be played, since game scores may be used for tiebreakers.
      5. The winner of each pool of the Candidates round will play a 10-game Semifinal Match against the second place player in the opposite pool.
      6. Ties will broken (in order) by:
        1. Mutual match score.
        2. Mutual game score.
        3. Overall game score.
        4. Result in 2020 ACWC Finals if applicable.
        5. Result in 2021 ACWC Qualification round.
    7. Semifinal Matches
      1. The winners of each Semifinal match will go on to face each other in the Grand Final, and the losers will go on to face each other in the Third Place Playoff.
      2. If there is no winner after 10 games, then an armageddon game will decide the winner.
    8. Final Matches
      1. The winners of each Semifinal match will play a 12-game Grand Final to determine the 2021 Antichess World Champion and Second Place.
      2. The losers of each Semifinal match will play a 12-game Third Place Playoff to determine third and fourth place.
      3. If there is no winner after week 1, repeat.
      4. If there is no winner after week 2, repeat.
      5. If there is no winner after week 3, then an armageddon game will decide the winner.
    9. Armageddon Rules
      1. An armageddon game decides the winner:
        1. Black gets 3 minutes on the clock and draw odds (i.e. if draw, Black wins).
        2. Both players make a time offer for White. The lowest offer plays white.
        3. In case of identical offers, a game of rock-paper-scissors will determine who gets White.
        4. There is no increment.
  4. Timeline
    1. There is one match per week in all rounds.
    2. There will be a 1-week break between the Qualification and Candidates round, and between the Candidates round and Semifinal Matches.
    3. The pairings for the first matches will be published on Tuesday 12th October.
    4. The pairings for all subsequent matches will be published on subsequent Tuesdays.
    5. All matches must be completed by the following Monday 23:59 UTC.
  5. Match negotiations
    1. Each player is responsible to offer at least 3 separate times for the match, by Friday 23:59 UTC at the latest, unless an offer has been accepted before that number is reached.
    2. Players may begin negotiating a playing start time as soon as their next pairing is known. When a time is agreed on, it must be shared in the pairings forum post.
    3. To prevent (most) time zone confusion, players must communicate their times in UTC.
    4. The 3 offered times should be no closer than 3 hours to each other and no more than 2 on a single date.
    5. If 3 offers are not made in time the player at fault must accept a time chosen by the opponent.
    6. If both players fail to make 3 offers by the deadline then the match will count as a draw and both players will count as having forfeited a game.
    7. A player should respond to an offer by accepting or making a different offer, preferably within 24 hours.
    8. If both players make 3 offers but no agreement is made before the weekend then TDs will determine if fault lies with a particular player.
    9. If a player is at fault then their opponent will decide the match time, if no player is at fault then the match will be ruled as a draw.
    10. Case-by-case exceptions may be made to the aforementioned rules at the TDs’ discretion.
  6. Match rules (applying at all stages)
    1. Each player has the right to call a break once during the match, between two games. The break lasts at most 10 minutes.
    2. If no break is called, a rematch must be offered and accepted immediately. Repeated failure in doing so leads to a forfeit.
    3. If a player is offline at the time of the match, they have a 10 minute grace period to come online and start the game. The appearing player has to message the TDs that their opponent did not show up and again 10 minutes afterwards if the opponent still didn’t show up. The appearing player has the choice to reschedule or claim a win. If the appearing playing does not claim a win and rescheduling fails, the match will be forfeited in favor of the appearing player.
    4. If a player leaves the match while it's still ongoing, they get 10 minutes to come back and this counts as their break. If they don't come back in time, their opponent gets the option to claim a win (similar to rule VI.C).
    5. If a player gets forfeited in two different matches, they get disqualified from the ACWC.
    6. After a match, either player must post the results in the Pairings forum post.
  7. Reporting cheats
    1. Accusations of cheating must be made privately to the TDs. Any accusation in public will result in a disqualification of the accuser, regardless of whether the accusation was correct or not.
    2. If an accused player is found guilty, they will be disqualified from the tournament.
    3. If a player gets marked as engine/booster on Lichess during the ACWC but for non-ACWC games, they also get disqualified from the ACWC.
  8. Disqualification and withdrawals
    1. Qualifications
      1. If a player withdraws or gets disqualified from the Qualification, they will not be included in later pairings. If they still have an uncompleted pairing, their opponent wins this game.
      2. If the disqualification happens on grounds of an engine mark (not booster mark), all of their finished games in the Qualification will be adjudicated in favor of their opponents.
    2. Candidates: If a player withdraws or gets disqualified from the Candidates, all of their games will be disregarded.
    3. Semifinal Matches: If a player withdraws or gets disqualified, the other players below them in their Candidate pool move up one position in their placement in the Semifinal Matches.
    4. Final Matches: If a player withdraws or gets disqualified, the other players below them in the Semifinals and Candidates move up one position in their placement in the Final Matches.