Team 45 45 League

Team 45 45 League provides team competition to internet chess players who like slow time controls, on the premier place to play chess on the net, the Internet Chess Club. Join the friendly but serious competition and team spirit for players of all ratings!

T92 News-Open section in T93

The motion to have an Open section in T93 was approved by our Steering Committee by a vote of 6 yes, 1 no, 2 abstentions. See T93 news for more information

T93 news

As an experiment, in T93 there will be three "Class" Sections (U1300, U1500, U1700) and an Open Section with a minimum team average rating of 1700, For programming purposes it will be identified as a U3000 Open section, well above any GM's rating! See Schedule for more details.

Summaries of each round's GOTW for current tourney are shown here. Go to GOTW to see all nominated games, all rounds, all tourneys for more detailed guru commentary.

Megasus continues as our GOTW guru. If only one or no nominations in a round, guru will also choose a game from all the games he looked at from all sections, entitled Guru's Pick (GP)

R1 WillC v kabindra After their white Bs are traded, Black establishes a good beachehad sq for his N at e4. But not being able to protect his d5 sq opens up Black's Qside, and allows W to dominate the middle. W's 2 Ns overcome Black's black B, and Black has no defense he can mount against the pawnstorm, with or without Q.

R2 LoseOften v Rookmaster "Black gets himself into trouble after the opening and allows Kside mating pressure when he goes to attack Qside. But a series of desperation moves and sacs allows him to dodge the mate, and get into an endgame, where his Black's 6 pawns outweigh the R over B advantage that W has. W can't stop Black's tempo , and after careful play Black's last pawn becomes unstoppable."

Kabindra comments: Thanks Guru. The whole point of this opening, under appreciated, is one of the following. (a) Prevent a black castle. (b) Get a beachhead for a white r on the 7th rank (c) launch a k-side attack with the knight. The last requires the so called suboptimal move bd3. This has been pioneered by a young woman IM and refined by a GM who wants it known after him.

R3 KidRattler v rubwin A Draw in the same vein as our nominees, but played slightly better. The Evans Gambit provides W the usual advantages for attacking Kside and in the middle . Black aids that a bit by misplaying his black B, but then defends well enough so that the W advantage doesn't come to fruition. The trading out of the power harms the effectiveness of W's attack. Neither player can Q a pawn during the endgame. Draw finally Agreed.

R4 Kingofknights v Denis240964 W tries to dominate Qside. Black attacks Kside and does punch thru W's defenses first, but the attack stalls a bit, allowing W to gain a middle advantage. It comes down to W's Q-R vs Black's Q-B. But W only gains a clear ad after sac-ing his R for the B. W's middle pawns are passed, and closer to Q-ing that Black's Qside pawn.

R4(GP) ElValero v primerpaso A very tactical QGD breaks down badly for W as B has two passed pawns on c and d as a result. W is able to counter those threats but that leaves 1 pawn he cannot. Black's R limits W on getting his 1 available pawn down to Q, and eventually traps the W K into a Mate.

What we are about

Sections for Teams of Experts, Novices, and Between!

Four to five players band together as a team, and compete in divisions of 4 – 7 teams in one of four ratings sections. One round is played per week, for six weeks, from Tuesday to the following Tuesday. Before each round, each captain decides which four players will play that week against players from the opposing team.

Paired players use a message board ("Game Forum") to discuss the day and time to play their game. The game is played with a time control of 45 minutes + 45 second increments, rated, with assigned colors. After the round, the team with the most wins (Game Points) wins the round, and earns a Match Point. After six rounds of regulation play, the team with the most Match Points in each Division advances to the playoffs (1-4 more rounds) to determine the Section champions. Division and Section champion teams each earn one-month account extensions donated by ICC. To join, follow the steps in: Quick Guide.

Play fair and Play nice!

To ensure a friendly and safe environment for members to enjoy our team competition, Team 45 45 League issues sanctions of varying severity for behavior that "disrupts the peaceful enjoyment of the league by its participants." All league games are reviewed for possible assistance. Anyone who receives a red card for suspected cheating is reported to speedtrap. League sanctions are summarized in The Docket.

Fun Stuff

Explore Here Often. Don't Miss Out!

Past League Champions Who won previous events? Check out the Archives, and download PGN's of league games dating back many tourneys.