Rules


  1. Overview
    1. The World Shogi League is organized by the "WSL" and recognized by 81dojo.com.
    2. National teams of all countries can participate.
    3. The WSL is a tournament in different divisions played on the internet.
    4. The season starts after registration and ends in December.
  2. Organisation
    1. National teams — must be built at the beginning of a season (old teams and new ones). Details see §4 .
    2. Team captain — each team has to nominate a team-captain and a proxy for the captain.
    3. Appeals commission — a team of three experienced players forms the appeals commission.
  3. Playing on the internet — general aspects
    1. All games must exclusively be played on the 81dojo.com server.
    2. Fair play is the base of the whole competition. While playing it is, for example, forbidden to use tools like programs with stored games and literature as well as shogi-playing engines.
    3. In case of differences during or after a game, first of all the captains should try to solve the problem. If no solution is found the arbiter should be consulted who will decide. Against this decision it is possible for a team captain to escalate the case by involving the appeals commission. The decision of the appeals commission is final.
  4. Teams
    1. Teams are national teams. Their name is the name of the country they represent.
    2. A maximum of 2 teams from the same country are allowed in the same division and a maximum of N teams from the same country are allowed in the same WSL season (N=number of divisions).
    3. A team must be formed at the beginning of the season with at least 3 players and an upper limit of 12 players.
    4. All players must be citizens of the country they represent, or be residents in the country.
    5. Teams are open for all players that would like to participate. Please contact the captains of existing teams or create a new team.
    6. Players can be added during the season, as long as they fulfill the criteria of §4.4.
    7. The players of a team must be ordered (from 1 to 12) according to their 81Dojo rating (with +/- 100) at the time of setting up the first squad list. In case a new player without 81Dojo rating is added, alternatively FESA rating can be used. The strongest player gets board one.

      A valid squad list could look like this:
      1. Player A (1600)
      2. Player B (1400)
      3. Player C (1500) <-- valid to be behind board 2, because his rating is within +/-100 rating points apart from player B
      4. Player D (1300)
      5. Player E (1200)
    8. The order keeps unchanged for the whole season. New players added during the season are placed according to their rating. This can only be done by a WSL tournament director.
  5. Team Captain
    1. The team nominates the team captain.
    2. The team captain represents the team in all cases. The captain need not to be a member of the team, but must be a citizen of the country he/she represents.
    3. The team captain keeps contact with the arbiter/organizers.
    4. The team captain is responsible for communication with the opposing teams.
  6. The Divisions
    1. The number of rounds in a division can vary between 5 and 12.
    2. The desired number of rounds for a division is 10-12 rounds. Usually, there should be one game per month.
    3. The divisions are ordered hierarchically (A, B, C ...) — the A division is the top division.
    4. The exact structure of the leagues is published by WSL at the beginning of the season.
  7. Schedule
    1. The schedule for the whole season is published by the WSL at the beginning of the season.
    2. For divisions with a size between 7 and 12 the system to play is round robin.
    3. For divisions with 5 or 6 teams round robin is played twice.
    4. For divisions with more than 12 teams a combination of round robin and swiss might be used with taking the time zones into account.
  8. Up and down between the divisions
    1. The champion and the runner-up of a division (except the A division) get the right to start the next season in the upper division.
    2. The last two placed teams of a division (except the bottom division) have to start the next season one division lower.
    3. New teams will be added to the divisions according to the average 81Dojo rating of the 3 standard players.
  9. Arranging the match
    1. All dates and times specified here are in UTC time zone!
    2. The games for each board can be arranged by the players separately and played on different dates. If a team wants to play all games on the same date, this can only be done if the opponent team captain agrees to it.
    3. The games have to be played within the designated month, If this is not possible and both captains agree until the 20th of the month, the game can be scheduled in the following month with the allowance of the arbiter. This is not possible for the last round and for a round in a month where pairings have to be done for the remaining rounds.
    4. The preferred tool for arranging the matches is the 81Dojo web system. If a team / player cannot use the web system for communication the captain has to inform and get response from the opponent team’s captain and the arbiter at the beginning of the month. The schedule for the games has however still to be added in the 81Dojo web system.
    5. The team captains have to add their team setup for the month
      until the 10th of the month. Failing to do so see §13 penalties.
    6. Each player has to make at least one proposal for their game
      until the 20th of the month      . Failing to do so see §13 penalties.
    7. If the players can not agree on a date, the game shall be played on WSL day (last Saturday of every month) at 14:00 GMT/UTC.
      If teams from New Zealand or Australia are affected and the opponent teams are from Europe, Africa or Asia then the game will be played on WSL day at 10:00 GMT/UTC.
      If teams from New Zealand or Australia are affected and the opponent teams are from the Americas the game will be played on WSL day at 22:00 GMT/UTC.
    8. If players don't show up within 20 minutes after the scheduled time, the game will be defaulted. Please send a screenshot to the arbiter to claim a win.
  10. The Team Event
    1. All games are played without handicap on 81dojo.com.
    2. The thinking time is 30 minutes per player with byoyomi of 60 seconds.
    3. The players for the three boards must be nominated according to the ordered list of players fixed at the start of the season (stronger players play on higher boards than weaker players of the team). A violation to this rule results in losing the game on that board.
    4. It is possible to play a match with less than 3 players. Boards with no player are set as a loss if the game was not arranged with exception of a match with 2 wins for a team, then there is no need to set a third board.
  11. Table
    1. The order within the league is as follows
      1. Won Match points (MP).
      2. Won Board points (BP).
      3. Direct result.
    2. Penalties might reduce MPs and/or BPs (see §15).
  12. Deciding matches (not planned for WSL 2021)
    1. The WSL organizers have to prepare a deciding match by contacting the relevant captains in the different divisions.
    2. The deciding games are played on three boards.
    3. Players allowed to play in the play-off have to have played at least one game during the regular season.
    4. Part of the announced schedule for the season will be a date for deciding matches as well.
  13. Penalties
    1. Penalties normally reduce the match points and board points in the table.
    2. If a board is left empty (or no show within the 20 minutes after defined start) the penalty is loss by default (one board point).
    3. If a team does not start at all two times in a season, the team is set on the last place of the table, losing all games. No more games are allowed for the team in the current season.
    4. If a team has two no shows in a season, the team is expelled from the tournament. If a team has completed less than 50 % of its matches at the moment of the second no show (not starting a match), all results of the team are zeroed. If the team has already played 50% or more of the matches, the results remain in the table and all the following matches of this team are counted as 0-2 giving 2 board points or wins to its remaining opponents.
      Additional penalty: This team has to start next season in a lower division.
    5. If a captain fails to add the team setup until the 10th of the month (§9.5), the first time, the team gets a warning. From the second time on, this means a loss of the match.
    6. If a player fails to propose a schedule until the 20th of the month (§9.6), the first time, the player gets a warning. From the second time on, this means a loss of the game.
    7. Any cheating would disqualify the team until next year.
    8. Second cheating after having cheated before would disqualify the player forever.
  14. Communication and validity
    1. All communication between teams and between teams and organisers should be in English unless two teams agree to use a common language.
    2. This rule set is coming into force on February 26th 2021.


  • The WSL team:
    • Christopher Gallardo Cerón (chief producer)
    • Thomas Pfaffel (chief organizer)
    • Andreas Neumaier (web designer)