Classical Online Tournaments

Where to play serious games online

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a player in possession of a chess rating, must be in want of a good tournament”, as classics succinctly put it.

In this post, I'll provide an overview of online tournaments with classical time control (though it's typically "fast classical": 30+30, 40+15, or 30+20, rather than the traditional 90+30 time control).

Chess coaches often say that improvement comes from practicing what we've learnt through playing and reviewing serious games that matter to us. Playing with slower time controls is particularly valuable, as it gives us more time to apply and reinforce previously learnt concepts. While over-the-board (OTB) tournaments are ideal for this purpose, not everyone has the time, money, or access to participate in them regularly.

Online play is generally more convenient to organise, but with slower time controls it is more risky. A random opponent might stall or abandon the game after blundering their Queen. Furthermore, some opponents might not approach the game with all seriousness, treating it like blitz and rushing through their moves, contrary to the spirit of classical chess.

The solution? Participate in online tournaments! Players who register for a tournament are typically more dedicated and respectful: they're less likely to stall, abandon the game or cheat. Tournament play also adds competitive and preparatory aspects that enrich the experience. Since usually you know your opponent before start of the round, you can study their previous games and plan your opening.

I'm currently participating in three online tournaments. Let's examine each one.

4NCL Online

4NCL — Four Nations Chess League is Britain's official chess league. It organises tournaments for both teams and individuals, online and offline. Their online individual tournament includes multiple sections: Open, U1700, and U1400. Players don't need to be members of any British Chess Federation to participate.

Time control: 45+15

Rounds: 7

Cadence: 1 game per 2 weeks, fortnightly on Tuesday 19:30 UTC.

The entry fee is 10.50 GBP, and there are cash prizes!

This tournament offers straightforward scheduling since all games begin at the same time: no need to coordinate with opponents. This is possible because most of the players live in the same timezone. While pairings are announced just one hour before game time, this still allows enough opening preparation.

There are 7 rounds played over 14 weeks, but players may request a bye with a relatively short notice, so there is no need to worry about missed games due to future holidays.

Games are played on Lichess with a clear protocol: White issues the challenge, and Black verifies the parameters (time control, colour and whether the game is rated) before accepting. Arbiters monitor games and record results automatically.

Standings and pairings appear on Chess-Results, a standard site for over-the-board chess tournaments. Players also receive ECF (English Chess Federation) online ratings.

Main communication channels are email and Lichess messages, with Zulip chat as an additional option. Arbiters send round reminders and hand-written round summaries after completion.

The next 4NCL season will probably start in autumn: check the 4NCL website for online events.

My results in this tournament

After 5 rounds of the current season's 7, I'm quite pleased with my score of 3.5/5 (+3=1-1):

I currently rank 6th among ~30 participants of Open section and remain in contention for a prize.

Summary: Among the three reviewed tournaments, this one offers the most traditional and formal experience, complete with British humour from the organisers, players participating under their real names, and the use of official English Chess Federation ratings.

Lichess LoneWolf

Lichess organises many leagues for slower time controls. Their flagship event is the 4545 League (named after its 45+45 time control). This team competition consists of 8-player teams: if you don't have a team, you'll be assigned to a random one with other players. The league is well-established, now in its 43rd season!

For individual players, there's a separate popular event called Lone Wolf:

Time control: 30+30 (it’s shorter than the team event, which has 45+45 time control)

Rounds: 11

Cadence: 1 game per week. Starting time is negotiated with your opponent.

You must have an established (non-provisional) Lichess Classical rating to participate in this event.

All communication and scheduling takes place through Slack, which you can access via browser or desktop/phone app.

While the scheduling aspect might seem daunting, it's actually quite manageable. After pairings are announced each Monday, players have 24 hours to suggest their preferred time slots to their opponents. It's best practice to offer at least three options. Once you and your opponent agree on a time, you post it to lock it in:

LoneWolf TV offers an additional fun feature where you can watch all ongoing LoneWolf games: for example matches of previous opponents or other players rated near your level. Players can also add comments during their games (known as "whispering") that are visible to spectators but hidden from opponents. This gives insight into players' thought processes during games, similar to the "confessional booths" used in elite over-the-board tournaments. Spectators can also discuss the ongoing moves with other viewers.

Their Slack also features several interesting channels, including a book club that studies endgame books and organises sparring games from book positions (they are currently working through Shereshevsky's "Endgame Strategy"):

There is also LoneWolf U1800 section, in addition to Open one (that has no rating limitations).

My results in this tournament

After Round 3, I reached #10 out of 170 players in the Open section, scoring 2.5/3 and defeating two 2100-2300 rated players. Unfortunately, I lost my Round 4 game and will drop in the rankings next week. Here's my moment of glory:

The next season of LoneWolf will likely start in May, as we still have 7 rounds to play in the current season. In the meantime, you can work on establishing your Lichess Classical rating, it took me some time and effort to achieve this.

Summary: Among the three reviewed tournaments, this one offers the most streamlined, semi-automated experience, with Slack bots handling pairings and posting results. It also has the largest community and player base.

ChessGym Swiss

As an active member of ChessGym (invite link to our Discord channel), I decided to organise my own tournament. Its defining feature is a focus on post-game analysis: players are encouraged to have a video call on Discord or Zoom to discuss their game. This is useful for chess improvement and makes the overall experience more pleasant and cosy. I've found that analysing a loss with my opponent helps me process the game better, rather than suffering silently afterward without any interaction or connection.

In other tournaments, post-game analysis is also possible but depends heavily on your opponent and isn't standard practice. Many players simply log off after the game or immediately click the "Computer Analysis" button, showing little interest in analysing the game themselves.

ChessGym Swiss is a 5-round Swiss tournament with 10-15 players. We use SwissSystem.org for Swiss pairings and ChessGym Discord for communication and scheduling.

Like in LoneWolf and other online events, players often watch and comment on each other's games. For initial seeding, we use Lichess Classical ratings.

Time control: 30+20

Rounds: 5

Cadence: 1 game per week. Starting time is negotiated with your opponent.

My results in this tournament

My results after Round 4 have been modest: 1.5/4 (+1=1-2), which likely speaks to the high caliber of the average ChessGym member.

The next season of ChessGym Swiss will likely begin in April. Please let me know if you're interested in participating.

Summary: This tournament provides the cosiest and most social experience due to its tight-knit community of chess friends. The games are also the shortest (30+20), allowing people to finish a typical game in 1-1.5 hours.

Others

Beyond Lichess 4545 and LoneWolf, several other leagues are available, including "Series" (featuring 90+30 time control round-robins with 8 participants) and "Chess 960" (for Fischer Random chess enthusiasts). You can find an overview of all Lichess leagues here: https://bit.ly/35w1xqH

Lichess and Chess.com also offer many blitz and rapid tournaments, but they are outside the scope of this post.

Summary

I'm enjoying participating in all three tournaments. They provide me with 2-3 serious games per week, useful experience in opponent preparation and opportunities for post-game analysis.

The social aspect has been particularly nice: watching other players' games and interacting with viewers of my own games makes chess much more entertaining.

If you haven't tried participating in an online tournament like this, I highly recommend it.