Worldwide team rapid chess

Lega Inter Mezzo

A five-board online team league played exclusively on Lichess, with strength-based classes, conventional divisions and flexible season-long scheduling.

League rounds determine who plays whom. Availability determines when they play.

Rating classes

Four competitive classes

Class is determined by the average frozen IMRL Rating of the five highest-rated registered players in the squad.

Oro

Team Rating 1900+

Argento

Team Rating 1650–1899

Bronzo

Team Rating 1400–1649

Verde

Team Rating below 1400

Competition structure

Organisation → Rating Class → Team → Division

Any individual or group may establish an approved IMRL organisation. Federation membership is not required.

An organisation may enter multiple teams, provided each team independently satisfies the competition requirements.

Each team has five primary players and up to two designated reserves.

A player may be registered to only one competitive team at a time.

Each class may contain multiple numbered divisions, with 12 teams as the standard target size.

New teams enter the lowest division of the rating class determined by their squad strength.

Season

21 weeks

11 league roundsSingle round-robin

Week 11 transfer windowFree week · effective Week 12

League closes after Week 20Week 21 is Cup Final and season close

Two teams promotedWithin each rating class

Two teams relegatedWithin each rating class

Team fixture

Five independent boards

15+10 Lichess RapidRated games

Five games per team fixtureOne independent game per board

Home team White on Boards 1, 3 and 5Away team White on Boards 2 and 4

Flexible scheduling

Play when availability overlaps

Each board schedules independentlyThe five games do not need to be played together

Play when both players are availableFixtures can be completed ahead of their nominal round

15-minute no-show grace periodAfter the confirmed start time

Season calendar

21 weeks, with flexible league scheduling

League rounds identify the opponents, not a compulsory playing week. Players may complete eligible league games whenever their availability overlaps. Cup ties are different: they must be completed in their designated cup week.

Week	Competition focus
1	League Round 1
2	League Round 2
3	Cup Round of 128 — if required
4	League Round 3
5	League Round 4
6	Cup Round of 64 — if required
7	League Round 5
8	Free / Catch-up Week
9	Cup Round of 32 — if required
10	Free / Mid-season Break
11	Transfer Window / Free Week
12	League Round 6
13	League Round 7
14	Cup Round of 16 — if required
15	League Round 8
16	League Round 9
17	Cup Quarter-Finals
18	League Round 10
19	Cup Semi-Finals
20	League Round 11 / League Completion Deadline
21	Cup Final / League Adjudication and Season Close

The early Cup rounds are used only when the entry field requires them. Free weeks carry no new mandatory round focus, but eligible league games can still be played. The standard Cup path supports up to 128 teams; a larger field would require a season-specific preliminary qualifying stage before Week 3.

Scheduling model

The five games do not need to be played together

All team fixtures and their initial board pairings are generated before Week 1. Each Board Fixture is then scheduled independently through the availability system. A Round 8 league game may be played in Week 3 if both players are available. Cup games are the exception and must be completed in their designated cup week.

Players publish current and future availability through the IMRL portal.

The system identifies overlaps against remaining eligible opponents.

Either player proposes a precise start time and the opponent accepts or rejects it.

An accepted proposal becomes an official fixture and appears on public schedules.

Reserves inherit the board position of the primary player they replace; fixtures are not reshuffled.

Scheduling evidence is retained for fulfilment reviews, disputes and end-of-season adjudication.

League scoring

Game points

Win 1 · Draw ½ · Loss 0

Team fixture points

Win 3 · Draw 1 · Loss 0

A five-board team fixture may finish 2.5–2.5.

Tie-break order

League points
Individual game points
Head-to-head
Team fixture wins
Individual wins
Playoff where materially necessary

IMRL Rating

One frozen competition rating per player

IMRL Rating is used for team classification, board order, roster eligibility, reserve-loan controls and statistics. Approved rating sources are used in a defined hierarchy.

FIDE Standard: IMRL Rating = FIDE Standard.

Lichess Rapid: IMRL Rating = Lichess Rapid − 240.

Chess.com Rapid: converted using the published IMRL v1.0 quadratic formula.

Converted ratings are rounded to the nearest 5 points.

Online ratings use account-age, activity and provisional-status checks, with anti-sandbagging protection.

Ratings freeze 14 days before Week 1; initial squads lock 7 days before Week 1.

IMRL Cup

Open knockout competition

All registered teams enter one unseeded single-elimination draw. Any team may draw any other team, including another team from the same organisation.

Five normal boards at 15+10, rated on Lichess.

Each drawn normal board proceeds individually to Armageddon.

A mandatory five-minute break follows the drawn normal game.

Armageddon uses casual 5+0 with 60 seconds added to White before the first move, creating 6:00 vs 5:00.

Colours reverse for Armageddon and Black has draw odds.

Once a player represents a team in the Cup they are cup-tied to that team for the remainder of that season.

Fixture fulfilment

Progress is measured by obligations fulfilled

Checkpoint	Required
End Week 7	3 of 11 obligations
End Week 14	7 of 11 obligations
End Week 18	9 of 11 obligations
End Week 20	11 of 11 obligations

A fulfilled obligation may be personally completed, legitimately covered by a reserve or internal reserve loan, or administratively protected because of opponent non-engagement. Missing a checkpoint triggers evidence-based review rather than an automatic forfeit. The normal league playing window closes at the end of Week 20; Week 21 is reserved for the Cup Final, adjudication and season close.

Fair play

Lichess decisions are binding

Lega Inter Mezzo does not run an independent engine-cheating detection system. Lichess is the playing and fair-play authority, with competition results adjusted under the published IMRL policy where required.

Governance

One organisation, one vote

After the inaugural rules are adopted, substantive changes are decided by Organisation Administrators. Ordinary changes use a simple majority; major structural changes require a two-thirds majority, subject to quorum.

Coming soon

Registration will open after pre-launch testing

We are consulting with chess clubs, testing the competition systems and completing the safeguards needed for a reliable first season.

Competition rules