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Team 45 45 League

Serious Chess and Team Spirit on the ICC

Players’ Handbook

Welcome to the largest team chess league in the world!

1.  Before Joining

Team 45 45 League is run for the benefit those players who enjoy long time control games, who like to play on teams, who have the time to commit to a 3-4 hour game each week, and who have enough free time available during the week and weekend to be able to negotiate a playing time reasonably convenient for both you and an opponent half a world away. If this fits you, welcome. Join the thousands of others who have been enjoying this league for 10 years.

• Our games are played at a time control of 45 45, and could last 3 or more hours.  Do you enjoy long games?  Can you plan a 3-hour block of time every week?
• This is not an individual event.  If you do not show up for your game, you let your team down, and you inconvenience your opponent, who has set aside time out of his week for your game.  If your time is very limited, or if you can't be sure of showing up for your games, please wait to join.
• Eligibility Requirements:  Play a minimum of 20 rated standard games to establish your ratings.  Not permitted are designated computer accounts, those who have ever had a (C) or a computer use apology in their finger notes.  Just as you may choose to join or not, the League reserves the right to choose whether to admit you or not.

2.  How to Join the Team 45 45 League

Step 1 -   First "g-join Team4545League" as a command on ICC. This allows you into channel 345 on ICC, so you'll see what goes on.

Step 2 - Player Menu > PROFILE to Update your info and intentions for the current tournament.

Step 3 - Find a Team, and Choose a captain.

• Your captain can enter you on a team to play in the current tournament, following the instructions in the Captains' Handbook
• How do you find a team?  If you don't already have a team, see FAQ #3.
• When a captain enters a team with you as a member, you will be sent an e-mail stating the team members and their e-mail addresses. Save this so that you can communicate with your team.

3. Deadlines  -  A Week in the Life of the League

*  Type the command  ' /date ' on ICC to compare your time to ICC server time.

4. Scheduling your game

The Basics:  At the start of each round (Tuesdays 22:00), the pairings are posted on the website, and paired players are sent emails announcing their games and opponents.  But don't wait for email (funny things can happen to email while travelling the internet.).  Check the pairing page and/or the Game Forum to see if you have been paired in the current round.

Sign into the Game Forum, read any posts that are already there.  Then click "Reply," and tell your opponent some times you would like to play your game. Offer at least three specific and distinct times, preferably including a span of a few hours on weekend (Saturday and/or Sunday).  If your opponent has already made offers of game times, click "Reply," and either accept one of his offers, or make at least three offers of your own.

Continue replying promptly, until an agreement is reached.  Once agreement is reached, it is a binding agreement, and cannot be rescheduled unless both players agree. Use the "Post Agreed Game Time" button to enter the time to the automation.

4.A - Effort

4.B - Seven Days to Play Each Round

• There are Two Contact Deadlines

  1. Thursday, 22:00 ICC - First Contact Deadline.  You must make your first offers, or respond to your opponent's offers, prior to this first contact deadline. If your opponent offered game times, and you have not yet responded by this deadline, he is no longer expected to show any flexibility with you. You must accept one of his offered game times.

     If you make a post prior to the deadline, but the post does not meet the requirements of First Contact as defined by Statute 10.C (make three offers on at least two days; a range of up to three hours counts as one offer, etc), you will likely be charged with partial blame (at least) should the game not get scheduled.

  2. Friday,  22:00 ICC - Contact-or-Forfeit Deadline.  At this second contact deadline, if missed the first deadline, and you haven't accepted one of your opponent's offered times, you lose this game (forfeit or set game loss).  More about deadlines
• Continue responding to each other’s suggestions, until an agreement is reached.  If timely, those back and forth posts may continue all the way to the Game Completion Deadline.
• Promptness.  The sooner you make your first offers,and reply to each contact, the easier it is for both you and your opponent to coordinate this commitment with other parts of life. Each of these back and forth posts should generally be within 24 hours of the previous post.  Delaying longer than 24 hours to reply to a post leaves your opponent wondering what’s up, and may be considered partial blame if the game does not get scheduled.

4.C - What to say when scheduling your game:

• Offer as many dates and times to play as possible.  Statute 10.C.i includes:

  The player who initiates this dialog shall specify three or more distinct times to play on at least two different days within the one-week playing period of the round. A range of times, or several distinct times within a three-hour period, counts as one offer.

• Be Specific.    You and your opponent are to agree on a specific day and time to play your game.   A vague “I'm available any time” is not acceptable.   Better:  “Can you play any time on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 pm?"
• When replying to your opponent's suggested game times, either accept one of his times, or make your own offers.
• If you offer a range of times (e.g. Saturday, 1 pm – 7 pm), your opponent can accept any distinct time within that range (e.g. 5 pm), with the expectation that you will honor it.
• Be sure that you can honor each time that you offer.
  If a time is offered by one player, and accepted by the other, that time becomes the official agreed-upon time.  There is no need to “confirm” after an offered time is accepted.
• Once you have agreed on a time to play, click the "Post Agreed Game Time" button and enter the exact time agreed upon.  This tells the bot when to announce your game in channel 345, and when to collect the result.
• Do you play on more than one team?  Don't offer the same time to two opponents unless you are prepared to simul the games.  See this FAQ for more about this.

4.E - Preventing Problems

• Accepting an Offered Game Time with Less than 24 Hours Notice.   If your acceptance of an offered time is within 24 hours of that time, your opponent must acknowledge it for it to be binding on him. In other words, a player cannot be "surprised" by a late acceptance.
• However, if you OFFER a time that is already less than 24 hours away, it is assumed that you are expecting to be available at that time if your opponent accepts the offer, whether you acknowledge the acceptance or not (see statute 10.C.vii).
• Rescheduling.  Once a game time has been offered and accepted, it is considered to be binding on both players. However, up to the end of the 30-minute grace period, a game may be rescheduled if there is both a request and an agreement to reschedule in the game forum. The opponent may either agree to the request or not, and does not need to give a reason.
• Can My Captain Schedule For Me?   Yes, although we much prefer direct communication between players, your captain can speak for you on the Game Forum, for example if you are absent during the scheduling period.  Times offered or accepted by your captain are binding on you, as if you had spoken for yourself.   So, it is wise to have good communication with your captain!
• What if my opponent and I cannot agree on a game time?   If no game time has been agreed upon prior to the game completion deadline, the TD must adjudicate the game score.  Factors he may consider:
  • Did both players make their first offers promptly upon the posting of pairings, and continue to make prompt replies?
  • Did they make the required number of offers, according to Statute 10.C? 
  • Did each player go beyond the minimum requirements, compromise, and offer a wide range of hours, especially weekend hours?
  • Did one player insist on a very narrow window in which to play?  How many days did each player rule out?
• Can we agree to a draw in the game forum? Yes, you and your opponent can agree to a draw, rather than play the game.  However, some cautions:
  • Make sure that both sides post this agreement in the forum before the end of the grace period.  Server tells and messages are not approved ways (unless also promptly documented by copying into the Game Forum).  
  • Players join the tournament to play.  If your opponent prefers to play instead of draw, do NOT question his sportsmanship.  That only makes your own sportsmanship look bad.
  • The players might not fully understand this game's impact on the team standings.  So, it is recommended that each player consult his/her captain, and your TD will likely ask for captain approval before posting the draw.
• Maintain Sportsmanship and Courtesy During Negotiations.   Do not put your own sportsmanship in question by commenting on anyone else's sportsmanship.  Do not express opinions about why your opponent does or does not offer or accept something.

5 - Using the Game Forum message board

• Each round, when the pairings are posted, you will automatically be sent an e-mail announcing your game and opponent.  Make sure your email program does not put League mails into your spam folder.
• The only official way to schedule your game is by communicating on the Game Forum.  Server tells and messages are not approved ways (unless also promptly documented by copying into the Game Forum).
• Look at this Sample Game Forum to get an idea of how it works.
• Do Not Reply by e-mail to Game Forum notices..  They go to "noreplybounce" and will not arrive where you intend.
  You must log into the Game Forum to post replies.
• Sign into the Game Forum at the League website, you will contact your opponent and negotiate for a time to play your game.
• Check your Game Forum Daily, just in case you might have missed an e-mail announcement containing a Game Forum post.
• Use the Forum to Alert the dTD of Problems.   The dTD will see it and act upon it.  For more contact options see the Contacts Page.

6 - Playing the Game – What to do at Game Time

• Show Up at Agreed-Upon Time; 30-Minute Grace Period.
  Out of consideration for your opponent, do your best to show up at the agreed upon time. However, there is a 30-minute grace period to account for unexpected and unpreventable delays.   If after 30 minutes, you have not arrived, you forfeit the game; rescheduling the game is not an option, even if both players want to do so.
• The bot Team4545 will issue a match command for you to click (Dasher and BlitzIn only).
• Player Conduct.
  No "moretime", no takebacks, and no excessive draw requests. No unwanted tells.
• No Cheating.
  Use of computers to aid in your play is strictly forbidden. That is cheating, and will not be tolerated. All games are reviewed by our Computer Use Detection Program and its team of experts. No engines. No books. No help from another person. Just you, a chess board, and an opponent.
• If the ICC Main Server is down, connect to ICC's backup server (Queen) to play your game.
  See FAQ 29 for instructions in how to do this.

7 - Server Commands Needed:

• "/g-join Team4545League" to join the "group." Only group members can add channel 345.  You can see whether you are already a member at the bottom of your finger notes (Under "Groups" it will say "Team4545League".
• "/date"  to see current server time.
• “/set noescape 0”  Turns off noescape, so that you may resume when you return. Should anyone play with noescape on, and disconnect, the game is a loss for the player who disconnected.
• ";/set formula "  Clears out your formula if you have a formula that prevents your league opponent from matching you according to league parameters.
• "/set open 1"  Opens you to receive challenges from your opponent.
• "/set allowkib 2"  Converts all kibs in your rated games to whispers.
• If the bot doesn't give you a match to click, issue the match yourself:  Highlight your opponent's name, right-click, choose Match, then fill in the boxes. Or type:
  “ /match Gomer 45 45 r w or “/match rgadoury 45 45 r b”

Playing in peace.  We strongly recommend using at least one of these commands:

• "/set quietplay 2"  Prevents seeing channel tells, kibs, and personal tells while playing.
• "/set quietplay 1"  Same as quietplay 2, except you will receive personal tells from your opponent only.
• "/set busy 2"  Allows you to see channel tells, but you will not see personal tells, except from people on your notify list.  You may add your opponent to your notify list if you wish to see his/her tells.  This setting works while playing or not, so remember to "set busy 0" to turn it off after the game if you want to again receive tells.

What variables do I have set?

• "/vars"  This will show your variables, including those mentioned above.
• The following variables affect the use of the seek graph only, and do NOT impact your ability to send or receive match challenges:  minseek, maxseek, manualaccept, useformula, sfilter.

8 - After the Game - Reporting the Results.

If you posted your agreed game time when your game was arranged, League automation will report your game result for you!  Within a few minutes of the end of your game, a PGN should post to your game forum, and the score should appear on the pairings page.

If your agreed game time was not posted by the automation, then you will need to click the "Get Played Game" button after the game.  This will work only so long as the game is still in at least one of the player's recent history on ICC. 

Please alert your TD or the Entry Clerk if there are any problems.

9 - Adjourned Games - An extra week to complete your game

Please try to avoid adjourning games beyond the week allotted for the round, but adjournments are permitted.  (Statutes 10.C.vii and 14)  Here is how they are handled:

• Definition of "Adjourned."   If circumstances prevent your game from being completed before the Game Completion Deadline, and if both players agree, we can call the game as "Adjourned".  This gives an additional week to play your game.
• Agreed-Upon Plan Needed.   Your opponent is not required to adjourn the game at your request.   In order to adjourn your game, both players must have agreed to the adjournment arrangement BEFORE the Game Completion Deadline (Tuesday 22:00 ICC).   This agreement must include the plan of when the game will be played.   Your Game Forum posts must show this agreement.
• Adjourned Game Completion Deadline.   Adjourned games must be completed by the end of the FOLLOWING round.

• Adjourned games are meant to be a last resort, only after you have made the required effort to schedule the game for the first week.

  Adjourned games (See section 14): No player is required to accept a request to play an adjourned game, nor will any blame be assigned (nor motives be questioned) for refusing to do so. Initial requests to play an adjourned game must also include appropriate offers for times within the one-week of the round, or partial blame will be assigned. The intent and purpose of this rule is to reinforce the league expectation that players are to be available to play within the one-week period of the round, or be withheld from that round’s board assignments by the captain. Adjourned games are only scheduled when times cannot be agreed upon and both players want to play in the adjournment week. (Statute 10.C.viii)

• Final Round.   Adjourned games from ROUND 6 must be played by the following SUNDAY (22:00 ICC) so that divisional winners can be established in time to set up sectional playoffs.

10 - Penalties

Most league players avoid the need to worry about penalties.   The following penalties are intended to protect each player’s orderly enjoyment of the league.

• Forfeited Games = Reliability Rating Reductions. Forfeited games reduce your RR, no matter the reason.  Your RR affects your eligibility for future participation. Examples of forfeits include:
  • "no-contact" (missing the contact-or-forfeit deadline for game scheduling);
  • "no-show" (not arriving to play your game within 30 minutes of the agreed game time;
  • "greater blame in scheduling" (an agreed time to play could not be agreed upon, and one side did not meet all the scheduling requirements, or just said, "I can't play.)

  See FAQ #10 for an explanation of Reliability Ratings, and Statutes, Section 3 for the technical details.

11 - Ways to Lose - And Other Miscellaneous Reminders

• Ways to Lose your Game.  As a summary of the expectations in this handbook, and the statutes, here are many of the ways to lose your game. As you read this, keep in mind that "forfeit" also means a reduction in Reliability Rating.
  • Failure to meet second contact deadline.  = Forfeit.
  • Failure to choose an offered time after missing the first contact deadline  =  Forfeit.
  • More than thirty minutes and 00 seconds late to the game  =  Forfeit.
  • No-escape is on, and you disconnect  = You lose the game.
  • You are on the disconnector's list, and you disconnect = You lose the game.
  • Takeback is offered and accepted = Set game loss against both players, no game point for either.
  • Moretime is given. =  Set Game loss against the player who gave the Moretime.
  • You seek outside advice, during the game, on any aspect of the game, including draw offers. = Forfeit, regardless of the position, plus possible additional punitive actions. This infraction includes seeking a captain's advice on offering or accepting a draw. (Players and captains should discuss, before the game, what outcomes might be acceptable.)
  • Deliberate disconnections may be subject to forfeiture of the game, regardless of the position.
• Avoid These. These actions do not cause immediate loss, but are examples of problems that will be considered by the TD if an adjudication becomes necessary (Two occurrences of “ partial blame” constitute “full blame”):
  • Missing the first contact deadline
  • A response taking more than 24 hours
  • Offering less than the three game time offers
  • Not waiting 30 minutes for your opponent to show up
• Unavailable to Play this Week?  Most teams have alternates, so if you are unavailable to play, someone else can be scheduled in your place for that week, if you communicate that need with your captain prior to the board lineup deadline (Tuesday, 22:00 ICC).
• Questions? Problems?  First and foremost, you are part of a team. Your team is your first resource for solving problems. Ask your captain or other members of your team, post a question in your game forum, or ask in the league channel (345). See the Contact Page for e-mail options. Do not wait until you get a forfeit and a yellow card to say you didn't know what to do. There is plenty of help available.
• Pay Close Attention to the Deadlines.  See Deadlines chart.    Any time you are unsure, ask your captain for help.
• Your e-mail address is shared with your team.  Teams should communicate to decide who is available to play each round, and to establish some team spirit.
• No e-mail attachments!  The use of attachments to e-mails is forbidden for all League business.  If you send an e-mail that has an attachment (including e-mail stationary), it won’t be opened.
• Prizes!   ICC offers membership extensions to the winning team in each Section.  Thank you, ICC!

12. ICC Server Time

The orderly flow of the event depends on everyone knowing ICC server time.  The ICC server is located in the Eastern U.S. (New York) time zone.

• Type the command  ' date ' on the server to compare your time to ICC server time.
• Speak in Server Times.   Scheduling is much less confusing if all parties refer only to "server time" in Game Forum conversations.  It is the player’s responsibility to know the server time.
• 12-hour clock vs. 24-hour clock.   Understand that there are different norms around the world.  See T45L FAQs to help avoid misunderstandings.

13.  Member Conduct

We welcome players of all ages, male and female, from all corners of the globe.  Keep your communications in line with a family-friendly atmosphere.

Statute 3.B:

" Each participant shall behave in a friendly and courteous fashion in all communications associated with Team 45 45 League.."

Statute 3.D:

" All participants shall treat our volunteers with respect..."

Spectator Conduct.

Spectators are to avoid making any comments to the players or in channels where the players may be.  “Whisper” to other observers only. Once the game has started, no one should call to a player’s attention any error in color allocation or time control, nor offer advice on offering or accepting draws.

Behavior Infractions = Yellow Cards and/or Red Cards Violations of Section 3.B (courtesy), 3.D (respect for volunteers), and violations of Section 11.B (takebacks, moretime, kibitzing, repetitive draw offers) may warrant a Yellow Card, a Red Card, or a Double Red Card, depending on the severity.  See Statutes, Section 17.

14 - Know the Rules

The full rules are the Bylaws, which includes statutes, handbooks, faqs, etc.  This Handbook and the FAQ’s are attempts to explain some of the highlights.  We strongly encourage you to read through the Statutes. It takes time, but it is time well spent.

15. Contacts

Questions about a specific game should be posted in the appropriate Game Forum.  General Questions can be sent to Questions@Team4545League.org , and your question will be sent to the appropriate person.  For more detail, see the Contacts page.