Lichess4545 GOTM - July '26: The Long Way to Checkmate!

Another month, another game worthy of the spotlight! The Game of the Month (GOTM) returns for its third edition, once again bringing a memorable battle from the Lichess4545 community to centre stage. This time, we're heading back to the flagship Lichess4545 Team League (45+45), where @Duty5521 and @S4AD1ST produced a game packed with attacking ideas, a memorable endgame, and more than a little drama.

If you're new to the Game of the Month concept or would like to learn more about the leagues, and the nomination process, be sure to check out our very first GOTM blog, where we introduced the project in more detail.

Community Spotlight: Three-Time GOTM Winner @Feet_Barbie

Last month, we celebrated @fork2020 for becoming one of only two players to have been involved in three Game of the Month-winning games. As promised, this month's spotlight turns to the other member of that exclusive club: @Feet_Barbie. Reaching the Game of the Month podium once is memorable. Doing it three times speaks to a remarkable ability to produce games that resonate with the community.

We spoke with @Feet_Barbie not only about the achievement, but also about the remarkable username that has probably made more than a few people stop and wonder: “Okay... there has to be a story here.”

There is a world where all the Barbies that are never sold get thrown away, a world much like our own but all in pink. In that far, far away place, Feet Barbie represents the revenge of the underdog, the doll that has been discarded every year has now risen through uncompromising attacking chess to turn the tables.
Actually, it's just the evolution of my PlayStation 2 username (Italian for fat_barbie), then people discovered it so I had to create Fit_barbie so they wouldn't prep, then I had to create NOTaBarbie, then a bunch of other alts and then Feet_Barbie, until I realized that maybe having them all named Barbie wasn't the best hiding spot.

Three GOTM-winning games is quite an achievement, so we were curious what that recognition means to him.

I didn't do it for the awards, and I hereby choose to devote the prize fund to buy cookies for @fulmarsky, a minivan for the mods (they have a boat but no car), and a honey jar for @MilsBees. I do not seek money nor fame, but just fun. Still, if my games can be fun for others too, it’s even better and I simply love to be part of the crazy school of chess, which loses most of its games but when it wins one it’s a stunner. I'M JOKING THIS MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME! KEEP 'EM COMING! I'LL BE BACK!

Sharp positions and memorable moments seem to follow Feet_Barbie wherever he plays. We wanted to know what lies behind them.

My games attract attention because my friends are amazing and supportive, the games are usually crazy, and sometimes I crack dad jokes in the chat. The positions are a natural consequence of my playing style, as I thrive in complications, love calculation and have abysmal endgame and opening knowledge. Still, I would be lying if I said I never do it for the memes. If you have followed my games live you know sometimes I write "I should not play h4 here, I’ll play a boring, normal game”... a few seconds later: “h4”, “g4”, my hand* my feet* take control and push the pawns forward.

The chess is only one part of the story. We wanted to know what keeps such a player coming back to the 4545 community.

The people!!! ... Because people make chess way more than a game! Especially the 4545ers! I have been really lucky to build a chess community IRL and online, I have so many people I can call friends here, some that I have met and some not yet. Really in my first season I got an amazing team that was super active, and quickly it developed to daily chats about life, memes, chess prep, crazy stories from Gary’s chess club, postcards to Mexico, meetups in the Netherlands, Airbnbs in front of my home, Giraffes, forgotten opening manuscripts, and much more to come...
And if you’ve seen me less active lately, don't worry, I’ll be back stronger than ever to play exciting chess!

Meet This Month's Annotator: @sahkal

What better way to revisit a complicated chess battle than through the eyes of someone who enjoys taking positions apart and figuring out what makes them tick? For this edition, @sahkal joins us in the analyst's chair to take a closer look at our winning game, from the opening ideas to the moments where everything could have gone differently. Before we get into the game itself, we caught up with sahkal to get his perspective on the thinking behind a good annotation, some of the habits that shape his approach to the game, and what he believes can help players continue to improve.

How do you go about annotating a game, and what do you look for along the way?

I look at the engine's evaluation and moves and try to understand what it's telling me based on my current chess knowledge. Sometimes the engine is difficult to understand because it talks like a robot, purely in terms of chess moves and evaluations. There are a few techniques that can help, including trying out your own ideas and seeing how they fare, looking at longer lines to understand how individual moves fit into a larger plan, and using the "show threats" feature to see what one side could do if it had a free move.
When analyzing my own games, it's important to remember what my ideas were during the game. For that reason, I find it better to go through the game once without an engine, so I don't create false memories and can better recall my thought process. That said, I never do excessive human analysis before checking with the engine.
The most interesting positions are those where one side makes a mistake or finds the only move, as well as positions where the game becomes clearer and both sides need to recalibrate and find new plans.

You often whisper your ideas and thoughts during your 4545 games, even in time trouble. What can players gain from talking through their thoughts while playing?

It's fun to use the whisper feature, and typing while my time is running out is an exciting side quest. As for chess-specific advantages, whispering makes my thought process more organized and in some cases, it also helps me remember the lines I calculated during the game, since I can look them up in the chat log. The 4545 chat history logger on GitHub is very useful in that regard. But there are limitations, it's impossible to whisper about every single line and idea that comes to mind during a game.

What do you think club players should focus on most if they want to make consistent progress?

It's a scientific question, and it obviously needs to be studied more. I think a lot of people are overly focused on passive forms of learning, like watching videos or reading books. Some amount of this is useful, but spending more time on active learning, like playing games and solving puzzles, could be helpful for most people.
I believe that playing a good mixture of time controls (bullet, blitz, rapid, and classical) is a good way to spend your playing time for optimal improvement. For puzzles, I think both the traditional ones, where you solve the whole thing before moving, and Puzzle Rush/Storm and Puzzle Streak are useful. Puzzles might be the most important for improvement, since games are usually decided by tactics.

Game Review & Players Interviews

This month's winning game brings us back to the Lichess4545 Team League (45+45), where our Board 1 players @Duty5521 and @S4AD1ST faced each other in Round 4 of Season 49, representing Accelerated Dragons and Better mate than never, respectively. This game has a story worth telling from both sides.

The Long Way to Checkmate!

The moves only tell us part of the story. To find out what was happening behind the board, we spoke with both players about their preparation, the key moments of the game, and how they saw the battle unfold from their respective sides.

Preparation and the Opening

• Duty5521 (White): “Let's say I usually spend quite a bit of time on prep, so of course I prepped lines for this game. focusing on the 2...e5 ones, which is what was played in the game, and I also reviewed the 2...d5 lines from my repertoire - I normally prep more, but there was not much to work on this time. My prep remained relevant until its end, at 14.Be4 (which was actually a prep error on my part; 14.Bc4 would have been better practically, contrary to what the engine and databases say). Overall, it definitely saved me a lot of time during the game that I would've otherwise spent finding the moves in the game, and it saved me from going into dubious variations that looked good at first glance.”

• S4AD1ST (Black): “I had already learned all of my Alapin lines as Black some time ago using a move trainer and I was not sure what line they were going to play anyways because of how rare my chosen choice was. My prep lasted till move 13 right until I castled. The prep was fully engine-verified, but of course playing in a real game is different to looking at lines. I was confident in my ability to handle the rest, and I feel like I had achieved a pretty comfortable position out of the opening, like at least until move 19. Being down a pawn, I felt like I had to play very actively to prove compensation. Unfortunately, I was not able to find the right path forward in this position which was new to me.”

The Tactical Breakthrough

• Duty5521 (White): “During the middlegame I was pretty confident, apart when 18...Bd5 was played because I could not find a good way to continue for a long time (22 minutes to be exact). When I saw 27...Bxa2, I thought: "This works? Don't I have c4? Oh Bxc4, duh... Wait but I have Qe2..." (I had 28.Bxe5 Bxe5 in mind first because of 28.c4 Nxc4 and was going off it) and when I saw that, I was relieved, because from there I just had to simplify to win (which was, ironically, not simple). The only thing I had in mind afterward was that I had to trade queens as soon as possible, so when 54...Qxb2 was played and I saw 55.Qb7+, that's where I could finally relax (but not lose focus!).”

• S4AD1ST (Black): “I think the game was pretty balanced until I decided to grab the pawn with my bishop. Missing white's double attack was regrettably an oversight on my part. I had only taken a quick look at 28.c4 Nxc4, otherwise I would have played 27...Ng4 and kept poking at their position. Once I realized the trouble I was in, I had to find a way out, and the best way seemed to be to try to open up their king's position and use the opposite-colored bishop to muddy the waters. I was also inspired by a book I had read about a month ago, New Art of Defense in Chess by Andrew Soltis, which has a great quote by Anand: 'Once you understand you are lost, you can do anything'.”

The Rare Finale

• Duty5521 (White): “After the queen trade, I thought that the game was won from the moment I didn't trade my pawns. I ended up trading my f-pawn anyway to win another one and I was confident I could grab the remaining pawn. I wasn't worried about my opponent's pawns, because I felt that - with the knight and the bishop in the way - nothing could happen. The most interesting part of the game, in my opinion, must've been taking that c-pawn. After analysing, getting the knight to a6, c6 or e6 all worked, but it was a pretty cool exercise. As for the knight and bishop mate, I trained it for fun a couple of months ago so I knew how to do it (to be honest, I was also kind of hoping the position would allow it).”

• S4AD1ST (Black): “I had the slightest bit of hope that perhaps there might be a draw somewhere due to the opposite-colored bishops, but of course the white knight was too strong. I wanted to trade all the kingside pawns and move my king over to protect the c5-pawn but this turned out not to be enough. By the time my remaining bishop was gone, I didn't expect any draws anymore. Once they played 101.Bh7 and started the W-maneuver with the knight, I knew it was over. Trading queens was definitely a big win for White in this way. Had I not taken the b2-pawn, perhaps I could have had a better chance of resisting.”

Looking Back

• Duty5521 (White): “I of course have to congratulate my opponent, S4AD1ST, for putting up such a great fight and being so tricky. I also really enjoyed playing the game because I felt like I was under the kind of pressure that a computer could have put me under, yet I was facing human play, only because of S4AD1ST's resourcefulness. They have become one of my favorite players to watch thanks to their interesting openings and playstyle, and I hope they win the August Game of the Month because they absolutely deserve it!”

• S4AD1ST (Black): “Duty5521 has done all their homework and props to them for defending really well. As for me, this has been a recurring problem where I release the tension in the position way too soon and allow my opponents tactical shots or counterplay. This shows I need to put in work to not lose the thread in favorable positions. I look forward to the next time we have a rematch.”

Join the Celebration & Share Your Games!

And there you have it, our 4545 GOTM blog for July 2026! We hope you enjoyed this deep dive into a thrilling clash between @Duty5521 and @S4AD1ST. But remember, GOTM is not just about watching games, it's about being part of the story. Whether you play in the classical 45+45 league, try your luck in Chess960, challenge your visualization skills in Blindfold, or enjoy our other side tournaments, every game has the potential to be featured as a future GOTM.
Here's how you can get involved:

• Play your best games in any of our leagues.
• Share your favorite games in our Slack channel: #game-of-the-month.
• Vote in the community polls to help decide next month's GOTM.
• Join the conversation by discussing strategies, tactics, and ideas with other players.

We can't wait to see which games will capture the community’s imagination next. Until then, keep playing, keep learning, and may your next move be your best one!

Thanks to everyone mentioned here for their time, effort, and patience, and thank you, dear reader, for joining us as well. Before you go, be sure to check out our account, where you'll find a collection of previous Game of the Month winners in our studies. Until next month, see you all soon!

The 4545 League GOTM: 2024, 2025, 2026.
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.