This page contains the ruleset for the 2025 Racing Kings WC. The format remains the same as in previous years, however some rule changes have been made. Please read these rules carefully if you consider signing up for the 2025 RKWC, and check out the RKWC Info pages in the top menu for clarifications about the RKWC. The rules are not exhaustive. When this page provides insufficient clarity about a situation occurring in the RKWC, it is up to the Tournament Directors to judge the case.
Entrants who meet the below criteria are eligible to take part:
1. Have a rating deviation lower than 65 in Racing Kings on Lichess at the time that your entrant eligibility is checked;
2. Have played at least 500 rated Racing Kings games on Lichess;
3. Be participating only using their main account;
4. The account needs to be at least 6 months old before the start of the tournament;
5. Having had no account that was banned for violating the Lichess ToS for at least 3 years. This includes shared accounts, unless involvement is outside their control.
When a player has a previous account that was banned more than 3 years ago, their current account needs to have played at least 1000 rated Racing Kings games before the start of the tournament to be eligible;
6. No “cheat detected” in multiple games on any of the entrant’s accounts within the 2 years prior to the start of registration;
7. Have messaged RacingKings with an interest in participating during the registration period (June 26 to July 14, 12:00 UTC);
8. Have joined the team “Racing Kings WC”.
Points 1–4 aim to prevent duplicate entries. If your current account fails point 4 but an older eligible account qualifies, use that instead.
Entrants must report registration errors or miscommunications to TDs within one week before the tournament starts. Chatbanned players should register with extra care. If your chat ability is fully blocked beyond a shadowban, contact organizers outside Lichess before the tournament to confirm participation.
The tournament format is:
Single elimination until there are 32 players left.
Double elimination until there are 4 players left (2 in the winners and 2 in the losers bracket).
Round robin with the last 4 players.
20-point final between top 2 from the round robin. The winner of the round robin gets a 2-0 lead. First to get 10.5 points wins. Regular tiebreak rules apply.
Each round lasts one week (Monday–Sunday), during which you must complete your match against your assigned opponent. The following stipulations apply:
1. All games are rated. If a match is accidentally played casually, the result will count once, with a warning from the TD.
2. Results AND games of each match should be communicated to the Tournament Director (TD) (QueenEatingDragon, FS-Schach and Natso), or posted in the relevant forum thread upon completion.
3. Each match will consist of 10 games of 3+2. An exception is made for the final match of the tournament, which consists of 18 games of 3+2 with a 2-0 lead for the RR winner.
4. Either player can stop the match if someone reaches a decisive advantage (5.5 points within the first 10 games of a match).
5. If the score is 5-5 after 10 games, then pairs of tiebreak games of 3+2 will be played, with the match stopping if one player is ahead after an even number of games.
6. If the score reaches 8-8 without a winner, then the time control will change to 1+0 until one player is ahead after an even number of games.
7. A player can request a maximum of one break between games, of approximately 10 minutes, during a match. The player requesting the break will have to communicate this clearly to his opponent. Only the final will have an additional unrequested break after 6 games.
8. The main draw will have 16, 32, 64, or 128 players.
-- If fewer than 16 players register, there will be no tournament;
-- If exactly 16, 32, 64, or 128 players register, all will enter directly into round 1;
-- Otherwise, the first round will involve the lowest seeded entries and eliminate the required number of players for the new total to be the highest possible out of 16, 32, 64 or 128 .
9. If a player loses a match, they will enter the losers bracket. If they lose a second match they will be eliminated from the tournament.
10. Assuming there are 32 players, after the first round there will be 16 players in the winners' bracket and 16 in the losers' bracket. After the second match there will be 8 players in the winners' bracket and 24 in the losers' bracket, and so on.
11. The tournament ends when the top two of the round robin have played the final.
12. If one player requests playing the final under camera and screen share, then the TD’s will try to set this up with permission of the opponent.
13. The initial pairing will have the top seed vs bottom seed, the second seed vs second from bottom etc. For example, in an eight-player event: (1) v (8), (2) v (7), (3) v (6), (4) v (5). The winner of (1) v (8) will then play the winner of (4) v (5) and the winner of (2) v (7) will play the winner of (3) v (6).
14. Initial seeding is the average of a player’s rounded peak and rounded current rating when registrations close. Ties are broken by the higher current rating.
15. If somebody is unable to complete a series, or has to withdraw, then their opponent is considered the victor. Byes may be issued in the case of an odd number of players.
16. If unavailable for a scheduled week, notify the TD before your prior match. At TD discretion, the match may be moved to next week once every 2 years.
17. In round robin matches rules 4, 5, and 6 do not count. After a 5-5 score, the game will be a tie.
18. Final ranking for the round robin is determined as follows, from highest to lowest priority:
Match points
Individual result round robin
Individual result double elimination if applicable
A new best-of-10 RKWC match to break the tie
19. RR seeding is determined first by bracket placement (winners bracket takes precedence over losers), then by initial tournament seeding. The order will be (1) v (4) and (2) v (3), (1) v (3) and (2) v (4), (1) v (2) and (3) v (4).
1. Players may begin negotiating a playing start time as soon as their next pairing is known.
2. Each player is responsible to offer at least 3 separate times for the match, unless an offer has been accepted before that number is reached.
3. The 3 offered times should be no closer than 3 hours to each other and no more than 2 on a single date.
4. If 3 offers are not made in time the player at fault must accept a time chosen by the opponent.
5. If both players fail to make 3 offers by the deadline, then a match arbiter will assign a time.
6. A player should respond to an offer by accepting or making a different offer, preferably within 24 hours.
7. If a player is excessively or repeatedly late for scheduled matches they may be forfeited.
8. If both players make 3 offers but no agreement is made before the weekend then a match arbiter will determine if fault lies with a particular player.
9. If a player is at fault, then their opponent will decide the match time within constraints set by the TD, if no player is at fault the Tournament Director will assign a match time.
1. Accusations of cheating or other actions that violate the Lichess ToS must be sent to Lichess moderators using the report function. Additionally it is possible to notify the TD’s privately.
2. Public shaming in the context of the Racing Kings WC may be reported to Lichess and can result in sanctions from TDs, including warnings, match forfeits, or team removal.
3. If a player is marked with a Lichess ToS violation, all their matches will be forfeited unless the most recent was over 3 rounds ago in the losers bracket.
4. Engine use or cheating in RKWC games will result upon TD discretion in a lifetime RKWC ban with the names added to a blacklist. This rule is applied retroactively.
5. A cheat-detected game results in immediate match forfeit and forfeiture of all future pairings.
6. Matches must be played on lichess.org using the registered account. If that account is closed, remaining matches will be forfeited at week’s end if still closed.
7. Intentional forfeits or losses result in disqualification and a 1–3 year RKWC ban at the TD’s discretion.
8. Malicious registration attempts, like ban evasion, alts or identity concealment, may lead to a 1–3 year RKWC ban at the TD’s discretion.
9. When a player forfeits the tournament at the first round or after reaching the top 16, the TD may issue a 1 year RKWC ban for disrupting the tournament.
10. In case of a double forfeit, the higher ranked player by the tournament system will be advanced, however this will only happen once per player.
11. If a TD is involved in an incident, the remaining TD(s) will handle it.
By registering for the Racing Kings WC, your account will be reviewed by Lichess moderators. You may register privately by messaging RacingKings. Tournament Directors receive only the final participant list. By registering, you consent to sharing your username, seeding, and results on our website, Challonge, and the Lichess forum. Cheat cases and blacklists may be published for enforcement and transparency. Players with Lichess communication bans are allowed to participate; TDs are informed and may privately notify opponents to ensure smooth communication. The Lichess ToS and Privacy Policy apply.