Cedar Rapids Chess Club

CRCC LADDER RULES

1. The CRCC Chess Ladder is a form of competition where each player is assigned a position (rank). A lower number means a higher rank on the Ladder (better position).

2. The goal of the competition is to move up the Ladder, ultimately to the #1 position (highest rank). Players move up the Ladder (i.e. improve their rank) by winning Ladder games. Players move down the Ladder (i.e. lose their rank) when they lose ladder games, and when other players move up the ladder ahead of them.

3. Ladder challenges will be issued at the CRCC Chess Club, Wednesday nights.  Both players must be present to challenge.  At 6:30 pm, a roll call of active Ladder players will be taken.  

4. A player may challenge a higher-ranked player that is present during the roll call. The challenge is limited to the two players on the ladder above the challenger who were present for the roll call.

5. From time to time, the club may offer variations to the standard challenge procedure to ensure that people get to play a variety of opponents.

6. After each Ladder game has ended, both players are assigned new positions on the Ladder, depending on their current positions, and the result of the game:

   1. If the winning player has a lower rank than the losing player, they are moved up ahead of their opponent's Ladder position, and then the losing player is moved one position down. 

   2. In case of a draw, the player with the lower position is moved up by one and the other player keeps their current position. If the players are next to each other on the ladder, their positions remain unchanged.

7. A player can lose their rank (i.e. move down the Chess Ladder) due to other players moving up the ladder after winning their games (i.e. moving up in front of the player).

8. When joining a Ladder, the player gets one challenge to any person on the ladder.  If the challenger is successful, they will be placed one rung ahead of the opponent. If they lose, they will be placed at the last position (i.e. lowest rank) on the Ladder.

9. The lower-rated player issues the Ladder challenge and the challenge cannot be declined.

10. When challenging another player to a Ladder game, players will randomly draw for color.