The Team 45 45 League
The FICS team Morpheus Gold won the u1600 section in Team
45 45 League tourney 11.
What is this Team 45 45 League, you might ask!? Team 45
League is a chess league based on a team format. Each team
consists of four to six players, of which four play each
week. The Team 45 45 League use the STC Bunch Game
Hebdomadal scheduling system, which is one game per week,
contact by e-mail. The time control is 45 45. The teams
play in different sections based on the team average
rating (the sections are usually u1600 and u2000). Team
average rating is the average of the top four players
only.
Complete information is available at
the Team 45 45 League home page.
The Player's Handbook is quite buried in the "Rules" section.
Easier would be to "message" Russ your e-mail address and
he can send this Handbook back to you.
The entry deadline for Team 45 45 League tourney 12 was
Nov 1st. Team entries for tourney 13 will be accepted from
mid-December, contact Russ for more info.
But we digress, so, back to the champions' tale! In the
first round, Morpheus Gold faced the team of The Ninth
Rank, and unfortunately came away with only a draw by
Pulga out of the match. (Keep an eye on Pulga's results in
this competition!) In the second round, The Ninth Rank
extended their lead by defeating the Patchwork team, by a
2.5-1.5 margin. In round three, Morpheus Gold and
Patchworks battled to a 2-2 draw, with logis and GBate
notching wins for MG. At the halfway point, The Ninth
Rank, was leading the competition, having won both matches
with a total score of 6-2. Each team was given a 2-2 score
for the bye, so at the halfway point, the standings were:
|
Team
|
Match Points
|
Game Points
|
|
The Ninth Rank
|
2.5-0.5
|
8.0-4.0
|
|
Patchworks
|
1.0-2.0
|
5.5-6.5
|
|
Morpheus Gold
|
1.0-2.0
|
4.5-7.5
|
Round 4 saw the rematch between The Ninth Rank and
Morpheus Gold. This time around, MG stunned everyone by
pulling off a 4-0 sweep, with logis, GBate, Pulga, and
justjanie getting wins. Round 5 had the rematch between
Patchworks and The Ninth Rank, with this matchup ending in
a dead heat, 2-2. The standings, going into the last round:
|
Team
|
Match Points
|
Game Points
|
|
The Ninth Rank
|
3.0-2.0
|
10.0-10.0
|
|
Morpheus Gold
|
2.5-2.5
|
10.5-9.5
|
|
Patchworks
|
2.0-3.0
|
9.5-10.5
|
The last round matchup saw the rematch between Patchworks
and Morpheus Gold, with The Ninth Rank hoping that
Patchworks would be able to hold MG to a 2-2 margin, and
thus win the tourney with the better match points. MG was able
to squeak through with a 2.5-1.5 victory, with logis and
Pulga contributing wins, and GBate pulling out a draw.
But there would be no rest, as the team would face the
Jousting Knights (the ICC team that had won their
division) in the final. With the following combination
wiggy put MG in the lead.
|
wiggy - rgadoury
28. Qd8+ Kh7 29. Bf5+ g6 30. Qxf6 gxf5 31. Qxf7+
Kh8 32. Qxf5
1-0
|
|
In the second game of the final GBate managed to pull out
a draw as black from a B+4P vs. B+2P ending, putting the
ICC team in the unenviable position of having to either
win both games, or score a win and a draw, with the
tiebreak system used. Pulga and justjanie started their
games about an hour apart; Pulga stunned his opponent by
playing 1.f4, and kept applying pressure, making his
opponent eat up a lot of clock time. Pulga's opponent let
him infiltrate with his Q and R, and with his opponent's
clock under two minutes, Pulga was able to manufacture an
unstoppable mating threat. His opponent resigned with
about 30 seconds on his clock, giving MG the winning
margin needed to claim the championship.
Here are a couple of nice games played during the tourney:
Chessface - GBate
(Team 45 45 Team Tourney 11 - Round 3)
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 g6 5. e3 Bg7
6. Nge2 O-O 7. O-O d6 8. d3 c6 9. f4 Nbd7 10. Bd2 exf4
11. Nxf4 Nb6 12. Qb3 Kh8 13. Rae1 Re8 14. Nh3 Be6
15. Ng5 Bg8 16. Ne2 d5 17. Qc2 dxc4 18. dxc4 Nxc4
19. Rd1 Nxd2 20. Rxd2 Qe7 21. Rd3 Ng4 22. Rf3 Ne5
23. Nh3 Nxd3 24. Qxd3 Bd5 25. Rf2 Bxg2 26. Kxg2 Qxe3
27. Qxe3 Rxe3 28. Nhf4 Bxb2 29. Ng1 Bg7 30. Rd2 Rae8
31. Rd7 R3e7 32. Rxe7 Rxe7 33. Kf1 Re3 34. Nge2 Ra3
35. Nc1 Bb2 36. Nfe2 Bxc1 37. Nxc1 Kg7 38. Ke2 Kf6
39. Kd2 b5 40. Kc2 b4 41. Kb2 Ke5 42. Ne2 c5 43. Nf4 Rf3
44. Nh3 h6 45. Ng1 Rf2+ 46. Kb3 Kd4 47. Nh3 c4+ 48. Kxb4
Rxa2 49. Nf4 c3 50. Ne6+ Kd3 51. Nc5+ Kc2 52. Kc4 a5
53. h4 Rb2 54. Nd3 Rb4+ 55. Nxb4+ axb4 56. Kxb4 Kd2 57.
h5 g5 58. g4 fxg4 59. Kc4 c2 60. Kd4 c1Q 61. Ke5 Qc6
62. Kf5 Ke3 63. Ke5 g3 64. Kf5 g2 65. Ke5 g1Q 66. Kf5
Qb1+ 67. Kg4 Qce4+ 68. Kh3 Qf1+ 69. Kg3 Qef4#
0-1
Pulga - amobogio
(Team 45 45 Team Tourney 11 - Round 4)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. e3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Nc3 O-O
6. Be2 d6 7. O-O a6 8. b3 b6 9. d5 Bd7 10. Rb1 b5
11. a4 b4 12. Na2 a5 13. Bb2 Na6 14. Bd3 Nc7 15. e4
h6 16. h3 e6 17. Re1 e5 18. Nc1 g5 19. Ne2 g4 20. hxg4
Bxg4 21. Ng3 Nh7 22. Be2 Ng5 23. Nxg5 Bxe2 24. Qxe2 hxg5
25. Qg4 f6 26. Nf5 Ne8 27. Re3 Rf7 28. Rh3 Kf8 29. Nxg7
Rxg7 30. Rh8+ Rg8 31. Rxg8+ Kxg8 32. Qe6+ Kf8 33. Re1 Qe7
34. Qg4 Ng7 35. Re3 Qf7 36. Rh3 Ke7 37. g3 Rf8 38. Bc1
Kd8 39. Rh6 Ke7 40. Qh3 Kd8 41. Rh8 Rxh8 42. Qxh8+ Ke7
43. Qa8 Qh5 44. Be3 Qd1+ 45. Kg2 Qxb3 46. Qb7+ Kf8
47. Qb8+ Ne8 48. Qb5 Ng7 49. Bxc5 dxc5 50. Qxc5+ Kg8
51. d6 Ne6 52. Qc8+ Kg7 53. Qxe6 Qxa4 54. d7 Qc2
55. Qe7+ Kg6 56. Qe8+ Kg7 57. Qa8 Qxc4 58. d8Q b3
59. Qh8+ Kf7 60. Qae8#
1-0
All in all, this was quite an exciting season for the
members of Morpheus Gold...all of the members are TMs on
FICS (and all but one are also SRs), so they are quite
used to working with each other!
Play will start soon in the 12th season, and of course MG
will try to defend their title (but under another name)!
ThoBjo(SR)(TM), captain of Morpheus Gold
GBate(SR)(TM), humble article co-author
