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@FunnyAnimatorJimTV depiction of Lichess4545 League Members

We crown the Lichess4545 Season 42 Champions!

ChessTournamentChess Personalities
....and The Ultimate Question was answered in round 1 already! Plus annotated game, 4545 interviews and Lonewolf wraps up.

Season 42 of the Lichess4545 League has wrapped up, and if you thought the championship was decided in Round 8... surprise! The real finale happened way back in Round 1.

It might be for the first time in the league history (the writer is too lazy to verify) that #1 and #2 teams in the final table clashed...in their opening match. The “Pawn Grabbers Guide to the Universe” triumphed over “What is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything? Season 42” with a convincing 5½ - 2½ victory. And that result turns out to be absolutely huge, as in the final standing, Pawn Grabbers Guide to Universe are the champions on tiebreaks, by a mere game half point! Talk about tight margins.

„Take Take Oops“ finish with the bronze medal. Barring their loss in round 6, they continuously put out consistent performances, for the most being able to edge out their opponents. After the dust settled, they got the bronze medal.

We also have to spare a thought for „The Infinite Probability Team“ who seemed poised to take home the crown. Unfortunately for them, one of their members was removed from the league and had their games forfeited after the last round. Yet, in true “Infinite Probability” fashion, they still finished 4th with the highest total game points – a remarkable achievement given the circumstances.

Congratulations to the champions of Season 42, as we open the gates for Season 43 (and registrations are still open!). You can register here. Full summary of season 42 is here.

Annotated game by @ventricule

The season winners were decided on the very last game of the season. Here are two puzzles (one tactical, one with a mix of positional and tactical ideas) and a complete analysis coming straight from this nailbiter:

https://lichess.org/study/V9qSoeC3/79lx70l2

https://lichess.org/study/V9qSoeC3/o4rW6NMb

https://lichess.org/study/V9qSoeC3/3M3kWpTZ

LoneWolf Season 35 is over too!

Season 35 of the LoneWolf league just concluded, with @Pychonaut taking the title with an impressive score of 10.5/11. @Empty_Walls and @lmart respectively came in second and third. Meanwhile, @bambu13 won the U1800 section with an impressive score of 8.5/11 and performance rating of 1944. @keithframnes and @lonelyghost06 took second and third.

Here is a sharp Sicilian victory from our grand winner over the previous season’s champion:

https://lichess.org/kL6oy6kp

Registration for Season 36 will open on February 10. If you are interested in playing one 30+30 classical game per week, keep an eye on the registration at the Lonewolf Tournament home page.

Another 4545 Interview with three league players conducted by @fork2020

This week, we have not one but three interviews for you! The three players being interviewed are all moderators. If you don’t know already, can you guess who these players are?

If you guessed @chessicstudent, @mkoga, and @parrotz, I have to ask if you were trying to be as wrong as possible. No, they were the original moderators. The three new moderators are @MilsBees, @mkubecek, and @jg777!

Did you suspect that you might someday be invited onto the league moderator team?

MilsBees: “I think I remember a time when you could apply to be a new moderator, so in that sense I was quite surprised to be approached directly! Like jg777 though, I've been much more active in Slack in the past few months, so from that perspective maybe it's not the most surprising thing ever.” (writers note: I am pretty sure Mills is hallucinating. You cant apply to be a 4545 league moderator.)

mkubecek: “I did suspect it might happen one day, even if probably not so early. But I've been playing in the league for over a year now so maybe I'm not so new to it as I used to think.”

jg777: “Well, I figured my dizzling ability to dominate the chat with commentary would eventually catch their eye as leadership skill. But honestly, a mod position? Offering me this was worse than blundering mate in one. But I won’t miss the chance!”

Would you like to make a (short) speech about your promotion?

MilsBees: “ See? Now you respect me, because I'm a mod. That's the way it works. Turns out, there are a lot of people, whole teams, who want respect, and they will pay league registration fees to get it. How do you think I got rich? I invented rules, and now I have a rule book that only I can break, and when I break it, I'll get... (Laughing) You sly dog! You got me monologuing! I can't believe it. It's cool, huh? Being a mod. I-I save the best rules for myself. Am I good enough now? Who's super now? I'm MilsBees, your new mod and... (He inadvertently threw his critics out of sight) Oh, brilliant.”

mkubecek: “I'm not really good at speeches so I'll borrow a popular phrase from our company leadership: "Business as usual". And while they often use it when the business is going to be anything but "as usual", I actually mean it. I believe moderators are doing a great job so my goal is not to mess up more than necessary.”

jg777: “Whether it’s answering questions or just having a casual chat, I want you all to feel comfortable reaching out to me. A big reason I took on this role is because of the interactions I had with Tranzoo while working on streaming during season 42. His support and camaraderie gave me reason enough to join the mod team and continue working with him more, and I now get a chance to hang out with a lot of other mods I haven’t been able to yet. I’m looking forward to hanging out with him—and all of you—more in season 43.”

How is life on the Mod Yacht?

MilsBees: “I fear deep open water, so I've been screaming at the captain to take us back to a dock, where yachts belong. I'm not really sure who's captaining it though, so that's something we should probably look into or we'll be out here at the mercy of the ocean forever.”

mkubecek: “Surprisingly quiet so far, I guess next week is when the real fun is going to start. So I'm still learning to get around, remember where the toilets are etc.”

jg777: “The Mod Yacht parties are legendary, shrouded in rumors that are only half the story—it's far wilder than anyone could ever guess. The stories floating around over the years, from secretive guest lists to over-the-top stunts, barely scrape the surface of reality. The yacht is a whole world of its own, where the music never stops, and the vibes are out of this world. Unfortunately, due to NDA stuff, I can’t get more specific except to say you gotta hear Tranzoo sing!”

Do you have some advice on how to not cross the moderator team?

MilsBees: “It's sometimes good to realize that this league is run entirely by volunteers. Without the players there would be no league to play and without the moderators, there would be nobody to organize the league. What can we do to make the experience pleasurable for everyone? Be respectful, be kind to each other, schedule and show up to your games and finally, if you have questions, don't be afraid to ask someone!”

mkubecek: “Using common sense is usually a good start. Actually, my experience from web discussions in general is that you don't have to worry too much about crossing the moderators by accident. Most people who do cross them are those who were actively trying to.”

jg777: “Speaking generally as I don’t know the mod team all that well yet, crossing the moderation team is like making a bad move in chess—you might think you're ahead in the moment, but soon enough, you'll find yourself in check... and trust me, we know how to put you in checkmate! Play fair and be courteous would be my advice.”

Make a prediction about season 43.

MilsBees: “I predict the winning team will end on 14 match points, only losing in round 2.”

mkubecek: “My crystal ball says the winner will be decided out of three teams with most points. But my crystal ball tends to be wrong quite often.”

jg777: “Season 43 is about to be overrun by jg777! No one is safe—not even the mod team! By the end of it, we’ll have no choice but to create a #PlzStopItjg777 channel on Slack, just to give everyone a safe space to scream into the void.”

Can you please share your favorite game of season 42?

MilsBees: “I already showed my own favorite game from season 42 in a previous ledger, so I'll pick a teammate's game. My teammate @Falstan was feeling a bit down on himself after a slow start to the season, but then played this game:

https://lichess.org/tZRzCLSr

After that he played this really nice game. It's always nice to see people bounce back from a rough week or rough weeks and turn their form around like that.”

mkubecek: “This season it would be round 4 game against IroncladUnicorn

https://lichess.org/8s19bIr7

Got an advantage from the opening, then mishandled the counterplay but eventually won in an endgame.”

jg777: “I’m definitely not passing up an opportunity to roast my own gameplay here. Round 7, rematch with paulofla from Round 4.

https://lichess.org/mz9QUrA1/black

On move 8, I jettison my knight after another botched opening sequence by me, and yet, I soldier on down a piece because, hey, I’m streaming, might as well turn this dumpster fire into some content, right? Gotta keep the audience entertained while I’m losing!”

Finally, for the most important question: How would you react if the senior moderators all suddenly turned into pumpkins, leaving you three to moderate the league on your own?

MilsBees: “I think the jokes about me becoming some sort of 4545 mod mogul will only ramp up. So I'd have that to look forward to I guess. From an organizational standpoint I think it's probably best if they stay the way they are though, so let's keep our fingers crossed.”

mkubecek: “That would be tough for sure but we would have manage. It would be disappointing if the league ended in such way.”

jg777: “Oh, we'd roll with it, of course! First, we'd carve out some time to adjust to the new setup. Then we'd probably squash any drama before it sprouted. And don't worry—if things got chaotic, we'd just gourd ourselves for a pumpkin spice latte break. In the end, we'd patch it all up and make the league even more a-peeling than before! Well, Milsbees and mkubecek would, I’d be on the mod yacht partying, obviously.”


Lichess4545 is an online chess league for people who like playing long time control games online. Players are assigned to teams and play one game per week with a 45+45 time control. For more information visit our league home page.
LoneWolf is a side league of the Lichess4545 league. It is an 11-round Swiss tournament where players play one game per week with a 30+30 time control. For more information about the LoneWolf tournament visit the LoneWolf homepage.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA).
Contributions to this edition by @ventricule, @Mennonite, @fork2020, @Tranzoo