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 Play

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 mongmong v KingofKnights A well played game that should have ended in a draw, as it went into the ubiquitous N vs B endgame. But a blunder by Black loses the B, and W can't stop Black from taking W's last pawns. I judged it the best played game of all the nominations because the outcome was in doubt the longest. Unlike the other games, it took until almost move 60 before either a draw could be forced or a Crisis Point blunder led to a clear advantage ..

R2 CPTsopiens v hipopotamos W survives an early Kside assault to take charge in the endgame. Black brings over-whelming power to Kside, but careful trading allows W to reduce the attack's effectiveness. W's willingness to lose a R to a N also becomes a key; once the Qs go off the board W's B and N work effectively to gain the advantage.

R3 Toalla v smsxman Prob not the best-played game of the week, but one that was entertaining to watch live. W's middle push gains him a 2nd Q tho it allows Black to have an extra piece. Losing one of the Qs because of a misplay allows Black to retake control of the game. It takes 30 more moves, but Black finally uses his two pieces to force W's 2nd Q off the board. W can't stop Black's pawns after that.

R4 fireball v RD1974 Early jousting in the middle leads to more confrontations on both flanks. W is able to remove Black's Qside pawns, paving the way for his eventual winning edge . Black has doubled pawns on e that are passed, and the Kside ad overall, but his push for a Q stalls. Once Black has to trade his last piece for one W pawn trying to Q, W's 2nd passed pawn can't be stopped.

R5 Timmah4651 v Rookmaster An aggressive Sicilian leads to some key trades early. Once the Qs come off the board Black is willing to lose a R in order to gain a piece advantage. Black gives back the ad in order to use a N to take a R. R-N vs N-N should be to W's advantage, but once Black is able to capture W's lone chance to promote a pawn to Q , Black's K and N become able to shepherd their pawn down. Good tactics allow Black to shield his pawn from any attempts by W's R to stop the pawn from Q-ing.

R6 RD1974 v kabindra W's opening leaves him with strong middle and Kside attack lanes, but when Black shifts his focus to Kside, W ends up losing a B after trying to bring it over to Kside to help out. Behind from there, when W goes back to his middle attack Black's extra B forces W to trade a R for it, putting W further behind. W's Q and a pawn ad is what he has left at the end, but it can't compete
against Black's Q and N.

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.