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!

T90 is now open for team entries.

Team entries have opened and will run through Sept. 28. Play begins Oct. 5. Fixed ratings for T90 can be seen here. IPP and ITP players can be seen here. Team entries can be seen here. Programming for new team rules has not yet been updated-notify Entry@team4545league for assistance.

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 RD1974 v goldeen7 This 90+ moves game was governed more by game strategy than procedural errors. W set up a solid thrust into Kside, but had to endure 25 nervous moves of Black attacking on Qside before he could start gaining a trading advantage deep into Black's Kside. The Ending proved again that an active N is better than an B in an endgame. Black being able to Q a pawn first didn't matter.

R2 oldsj v scostanzo212 W gains a middle foothold, trades down until he has a chance to advance a pawn to Q, and would have promoted it for a 2nd Q. But misplays and ends up making it a lose-1 get-1 trade . Black uses his N, R and last pawns perfectly after that, and. W's Q by itself can't stop Black from Q-ing his last pawn.

R3 cayo89 v Validus In a game that starts basic but morphs into a wide-open affair, W crafts just enough defense for his K, that doesn't castle but runs all the way to h3. Black gives W a few tense moments, but after W sacs a R for a N he is able to reposition his Q and take advantage of the Kside attack he set up from the start.

R3GP Kingofknights v Electryon In the longest and best played game of the week, the outcome hinges on who can control the open d and e column. A two-man pawnchain that Black sets up, lasts for 60 moves and becomes critical to his success. The Game was in doubt until the move 50s also better than any other game) when Black removed W's B and the last pawn blocking Black's pawnchain. But it still took another 30 moves for Black to cinch the win.

R4 rubu v kabindra W's sins of aggression, which weren't so bad until bringing the Q out to chase pawns, come back to bite him. Black takes advantage of the a column that W opened up, and is winning all the trades without initiating most of them. "Just Keep Reducing" as a tactic leaves Black with two extra pawns and the eventual path to victory.

R4GP PsyMar v Kidpython Longest game of the week is from U1300, and it wasn't anywhere near over until the move 70's. W plays a wide-open game, gains an advantage along d and e columns, but has to defend a Kside weakness. Black is able to keep countering W until both have a pawn to promote to a Q , but a decision to chase W's Qside pawns costs Black his passed pawn. Then a misplay loses his last piece, while allowing W to Q his pawn.

R5GP-draw, fhunfi v Portola Both players decide to confront each other in the middle of the board . After the trades Black gains an advantage along the white squares and diagonals because W traded his white B early on. Once protected, W's advantages are his Kside pawns, but advance of
them eventually stalls. A Black blunder costs him winning chances, but he is still able to use the open spaces for +s that force a Perp .

R5GP-win, rkjulianjr v g8wrb A very tactical game until the moves 30's when small blunder start to happen and more trading ensues. W has a piece disadvantage when he loses his white B but is able to use +s to grab pawns from Black;. and then to force a Q trade once he has the way clear for all three Kside pawns to advance. But then a blunder costs him the key g pawn and Black is able to use his white B to clear the way for his pawns on the Qside flank to advance unopposed.

R6 goldeen7 v Seatleblues A tight struggle into the move 30's leads to Black taking a risky chance by trading his Q for both of W's Rs. But when Black loses the piece ad he gained, W's Q dominates the board. It's not easy for W to play the next 60 moves, but Black errors allow W the tempo to escort his Qside pawns down faster than Black can.

What we are about

Sections for Teams of Experts, Novices, and Between!

Four to six 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.