I've been playing off and on since T24(before the split).  I've suggested that we do a ChessPublishing.com team for the FICS Teamleague(http://www.teamleague.org/) a couple of times and there was almost no interest.  The T36 team submission deadline is today on FICS.  It looks like they are on T37 on ICC and the team submission deadline is on the 15th.

I'm playing in another team tournament now called the Online Chess League or OCL(http://tlmk.net/ocl/).  OCL games can be played on FICS or ICC.  60 15 time control.  I'm on the OCL Open section right now for MonkeyClub(http://www.monkeychess.net/) and I expect to play on U2000 FICS Teamleague for MonkeyClub.  I also often play for or captain MFO(http://www.mrfixitonline.com/chess) teams.  http://www.mrfixitonline.com/viewtopic.php?p=19515#19515.  For one tournament I played on another team but I forget the name.


For the Teamleague my teams(as a player) have won tournaments in every section except U1400 and the Open section so far.  This is probably because I've never played in those sections.  

What is the strenght of the players?
On FICS we have FMs playing in both the U2000 and Open sections.

Do you feel it runs without cheating?
They usually ban around five or six players mid-tournament for cheating.  If it's obvious cheating then it's usually handled pretty quickly.  I think people might use opening books sometimes but they are usually the same ones using a computer to play for them.  A lot of people just prepare deeply for their opponents.  For my last game I studied 40+ pages of densely packed material on the Tarrasch and entered it into CPT and my database for training.

What are your personal impressions?
I think on-line team play is a lot of fun and can seriously improve your level of play if you take the games seriously.  It's common for team members to help each other prepare for opponents and help to improve.  I've just started looking at positions from Rate Your Endgame with my team.  We used to analyze all the time in MFO.

My latest game:
[Event "FICS rated standard game"]
[Site "FICS, San Jose, California USA"]
[Date "2008.04.06"]
[Time "07:57:40"]
[Round "-"]
[White "BlkSabb"]
[Black "Rakete"]
[WhiteElo "1916"]
[BlackElo "1962"]
[TimeControl "3600+15"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7
8. O-O O-O 9. Bg5 cxd4 10. Nxd4 h6 11. Be3 Be6 12. Rc1 Na5 13. b3 Bg4 14. Qd3
Rc8 15. h3 Bh5 16. f4 Bg6 17. f5 Bh7 18. Rfd1 Ba3 19. Rc2 Re8 20. Ndb5 Rxe3
21. Qxe3 Bc5 22. Nd4 Bxf5 23. Rcd2 Nc6 24. Qf4 Nxd4 25. Rxd4 Bc2 26. Rd2
Be4 27. Nxe4 Nxe4 28. Bxe4 dxe4 29. Qxe4 Qg5 30. Qf4 Qxf4 31. gxf4 Rd8 32. e3
Bxd4 33. exd4 Kf8 34. Kf2 Ke7 35. Ke3 Kd6 36. Kd3 Rd7 37. Re2 Re7 38. Rxe7
Kxe7 39. d5 Kd6 40. Kd4 g6 41. a4 f6 42. b4 g5 43. fxg5 fxg5 44. Ke4 h5
45. Kf5 g4 46. hxg4 hxg4 47. Kxg4 Kxd5 48. Kf5 Kc4
{White resigns} 0-1

Sounds like a plan 

Dink Heckler wrote on 04/09/08 at 15:05:08:


CraigEvans, A poster here, also plays in this league, so there should definetly be enough chesspub members to comprise a team.

Toppy  

I have played in the 4545 League for almost four years and been a team captain most of the time. I have played a lot of serious and interesting games against different opponents (including Smyslov_Fan who was so impolite to publish his win against me here in the forum - see the recent Chigorin thread in the d4 d5 section).

I can generally confirm was S_F already wrote - and let me add a few more comments:

- I don't think computer cheating is a serious problem. During my tourneys one of my opponents was later expelled for cheating (which was quite annoying, since I had actually been the only one to defeat him). When playing over the games afterwards with an engine switched on, I find the usual bunch of errors and inaccuracies you could expect from human players at my rating level. Generally I think the computer cheating problem at ICC is overrated, and at least I think the risk of meeting a cheater is low when you play organized tournaments like this.
- S_F says that players know a lot of theory and use a lot of book. Yes, and in addition they may be well prepared for you - at least after a while, since the entire history of league games is kept and can be downloaded and studied. See that as a challenge, not as a problem - and prepare for your opponents yourself.
- The is a tournament that takes itself seriously. There are detailed formal rules, which are enforced quite rigidly (sometimes too rigidly in my opinion). If you don't show up for a scheduled game there is no mercy - the game is lost and no matter your excuse, you get a "reliability rating reduction", which may decrease the number of sections you are allowed to play - and in the end may get you suspended from the next tourney.
- To be eligible to play, you must have played at least 20 standard games on ICC. For the first tourney, you are eligible for playing in one section. A you behave well, this number may increase up to three sections.
- The teams consist of 4-6 players, and in each round 4 players play. So if you are in a team with 4 players, you have to play all rounds. If there are more players on the team, you will normally be able to sit out if needed, but you cannot be sure. When the team lineups are published, you have one week to schedule and play the game - in most, but not all, rounds, you are however allowed to adjourn the game up to one week.
- The players paired are often from very different time zones (typically American vs. European players), so you should be ready to play during weekends. If you are generally not able to play during weekends, the league is simply not for you.
- The maximum rating rules for the teams are applied strictly. This means that players often may have to leave their teams and find new teams. This is annoying, but is has the advantage that the teams to some degree are reshuffled - and it may provide new league players some better chances to find teams.
- And a final important point: the next tourney closes for entries in six days from now, on April 15. So hurry up to find a team.
- The league website is http://team4545league.org/, where a lot of info can be found (e.g. about how to join the league). There is a similar league for FICS http://teamleague.org/. These two leagues were "married" until a few years ago, when the "divorced" (quite peacefully and friendly, as far as I know).

(And BTW I am currently looking for a 6th player for my U2000 team. The player should have a rating of 1890-1910, not much outside that. I anyone is interested, let my know very soon).

me control is a bit strange, I almost always have more time at the end than I started with.  There are always a few cheating incidents I hear about.  Overall, It takes a lot of time which I think can be better used doing something else with chess, like looking at tactics or something.  The games are very long and formal but theres something I cant take all that  seriously about the games.