ICC, U.S. Chess Live, and Yahoo! have all demonstrated the viability of pools with rankings or champions:
"Command: one-minute
This is a different rating category and way to find an opponent. For those familiar with the 5-minute system, this is just the same only with a faster time control.
You just do the command "1-minute" and the system will automatically pair you with an opponent, usually someone near your rating and someone you haven't played in the last few games. You may have to wait a bit before it makes the pairing and starts the game, depending on how many other appropriate opponents are joining the pool of players.
The games are 1 0, and are always rated in the 1-minute category, not in the bullet category. This is the only way to start a game in the 1-minute rating category. The hope is that by not allowing people to hand-pick their opponents, not only will the ratings be more accurate, but also there won't be nonsense like having people avoid playing you when you're underrated.
Once the game starts, you should finish it. Disconnections are treated as losses. (Except in the rare case when both players are severely lagging, in which the game is aborted.) Of course, we realize that this means that players with unreliable network connections will tend to have lower ratings. But this rule eliminates a whole set of possible abuses and disputes.
You won't be able to play a 1-minute game if your average lag for your current login session is more than 800 milliseconds. You can see your average lag by typing "ping".
Computers and computer-assisted players are not allowed to play. Please do not get assistance from chess engines, databases, or from other players while playing.
The requirement for having an active 1-minute rating (once you have established a rating by playing 20 games) is 8 games in the last week.
Noplay and censor lists and formula are ignored by the 1-minute pairing system.
If two players waiting to be paired have an adjourned game (of any type), the pairing system will resume that game.
You can leave the pool of players waiting to be paired by typing "match" or "unseek".
You can list the best established active 1-minute ratings with the command "best 1-minute", or see where you rank with "rank 1-minute".
You can list the 1-minute games currently going on with "games *o", or watch the highest-rated such game with "observe *o" or "follow *o".
"
http://www.chessclub.com/user/help/one-minute
"Command: one-minute
This is a different rating category and way to find an opponent. For those familiar with the 5-minute system, this is just the same only with a faster time control.
You just do the command "1-minute" and the system will automatically pair you with an opponent, usually someone near your rating and someone you haven't played in the last few games. You may have to wait a bit before it makes the pairing and starts the game, depending on how many other appropriate opponents are joining the pool of players.
The games are 1 0, and are always rated in the 1-minute category, not in the bullet category. This is the only way to start a game in the 1-minute rating category. The hope is that by not allowing people to hand-pick their opponents, not only will the ratings be more accurate, but also there won't be nonsense like having people avoid playing you when you're underrated.
Once the game starts, you should finish it. Disconnections are treated as losses. (Except in the rare case when both players are severely lagging, in which the game is aborted.) Of course, we realize that this means that players with unreliable network connections will tend to have lower ratings. But this rule eliminates a whole set of possible abuses and disputes.
You won't be able to play a 1-minute game if your average lag for your current login session is more than 800 milliseconds. You can see your average lag by typing "ping".
Computers and computer-assisted players are not allowed to play. Please do not get assistance from chess engines, databases, or from other players while playing.
The requirement for having an active 1-minute rating (once you have established a rating by playing 20 games) is 8 games in the last week.
Noplay and censor lists and formula are ignored by the 1-minute pairing system.
If two players waiting to be paired have an adjourned game (of any type), the pairing system will resume that game.
You can leave the pool of players waiting to be paired by typing "match" or "unseek".
You can list the best established active 1-minute ratings with the command "best 1-minute", or see where you rank with "rank 1-minute".
You can list the 1-minute games currently going on with "games *o", or watch the highest-rated such game with "observe *o" or "follow *o".
"
http://www.chessclub.com/user/help/one-minute