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!

T-94 open for team entries

Tournament 94 is now open for team entries. Players must fill out a profile at the Players' Page to qualify for joining a team. Team entries are open September 20 to October 4. Play begins October 11.

Notice - The steering committee has just passed a new statute related to Captains, Section 3.A.vii.e. Some team captains also serve as managers of a family of teams that play in multiple sections. Such captains may, with the approval of the Chief TD, serve as non-playing captains of more teams than allowed by their “player Reliability Rating”. ¶SC93-94

To permit this change, 3.A.v was also modified by adding the words "as players" .Team captains and assistant captains, "as players," are subject to . . .

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 VictorRed 1/2 room-matt. A game with a little bit of everything, Black slows down a successful W Kside attack to regain his footing; then follows a 65-move endgame. W has a seemingly unstoppable pawn chain, but B manipulates W into position for trades that wipes out all the pieces, leaving the K's!

R2 AlecMoro 0-1 achessman A well-played struggle where Black doesn't gain a concrete advantage until the move 50's. W makes Black struggle for 30 more moves until a mistake gives Black the winning advantage.

R3 fileman 1-0 fishhead A well played game that was still in doubt almost to the end in the move 50's. Black only lost because defensive moves gave his K no sq to run to, from W's doubled Rs and a white B ready to assist on multiple diagonals.

R4 kabrinda 1-0 ChessMaine W uses an opening sequence that gives Black the thought that he can attack early, but missing one key defensive play of p-h6 allows W to set up an overwhelming Kside blitz. Black can't get his K to relative Qside safety without losing pieces, then K is trapped on Qside

R4(GP) smsxman 1/2 blind-warrior Longest Game of the Round; well played and well-thought out. The game never has one Crisis Point where one player is or will be badly down on power or pawn. Every initiative is blunted or diverted, leading to the eventual Draw.

R5 Portola 0-1 VictorRed At 85 moves the longest game of the week even tho Black grabbed the winning advantage in the mid-50's. Once the Qside confrontation stalls Kside pressure shreds both players' defenses. Black's Q is in position to grab a Qside pawn tho; after that W can't combat Black's tempo or position in the open space,

R6(GP) Balderdash 1-0 seattleblues : It wasn't the prettiest game of the week but:perhaps the most entertaining. Black errors gave W the ad; W's errors allowed Black to even the game as they went into the move 70's .Both players then went another 60 moves trying to trap the other's R. Pressure and mental tiredness force the blunder that ends it.

P1(GP) Electryon 1/2 RD1974 Black starts a Kside attack , but ends up sac-ing his two Ns to open things up. W takes tempo control, but a K misplay allows Black's Q to gobble up extra pawns. Black tries once again to pressure what's left of W's Kside, and does win Q for R. But W has 3 pieces left against only Black's Q; good coordination among the three eventually forces the drawing situation . If not a potential win.

P2(GP) MichaellC 0:1 cyborg89 A game where most of the action happens between c and f columns and around 4th and 5th rank . When W seems to gain the advantage in the middle Black switches to a Kside assault, leading to most of the pieces being traded off. When the focus switches to the pawns on the flanks Black's N is in position to do more damage on both sides, and W won't stop the Q-ing from happening next.

P3 fhunfi 1/2 BuddyT Black takes an aggressive line against a Sicilian by trying to control the middle. W begins to take control of the tempo when he starts attacking on Kside. W forces Black to sac a R for a N, but Black ends up with a pawn ad after more trading. W has a passed pawn closer to Q-ing so Black ends up sacrificing the ad in order to stop that pawn. It becomes a Draw when W's R and Black's doubled pawns trap his K on g and h columns

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.