Lichess4545 interview: Meet the champs

After a slight hiatus, we have our next interview for you! This week, we are interviewing a team that finished season 42 as the champions. Congratulations to them... but can you guess who they are?

If you guessed The Infinite Improbability Team, you were correct. However, due to fair play decisions, the winning team became Pawn Grabbers Guide to the Universe. The members of this team who were interviewed are @bobsouzabr, @Paulze2000, and @gercondon.

First, congratulations on your victory. How does it feel to be the champions?

bobsouzabr: “I’m proud of it. It is amazing to be the champion of a tournament with several high-quality players from around the world. I started playing Lichess4545 League in the 31st Season, this is my first title.”

gercondon: “It's nice but at the same time it's a bit odd due to the circumstances - I feel sorry for the other team. I must say it's a great competition and I love taking part in it. I'd like to give a huge thank you to all the mods and organizers. It must take a lot of effort to keep things running this smoothly and it's much appreciated.”

What matchup do you believe was the most critical during your run to the championship?

bobsouzabr: “I think the most critical matchup was in the 4th round. I lost my game, with an almost perfect play of my opponent in the Caro-Kann. And my team also lost the match (5,5 x 2,5 - our only loss). In general, the winning teams don’t have losses like that. After that, I believed that it would be almost impossible to win the title.”

gercondon: “Looking back there were a couple that we drew 4-4 and one that we won 4.5-3.5. Just goes to show that every half point can be vital.”

Do you have a game that you'd like to share from season 42?

bobsouzabr: “I would like to share my last game of the Season.

It was a game that I played on my birthday (January 26th), after a day full of celebrations, I was fatigated and almost forgot about it - I only remembered about the game when Chesster sent me a message. Because of that, I played it fast, in a symmetrical position, hoping the game would come to a draw and give my team the match point (I hadn’t noticed that my victory was necessary for the tie-break points). The game itself started slow, but I found an interesting idea on move 15, and some moves later my opponent made a mistake and I took advantage! After that, I started pressuring and won the game. It was the cherry on top of my birthday and also of the Season.”

When did you first believe that you had a shot at winning it all?

bobsouzabr: “I didn't believe that it would be possible to win the title. Based on my calculations, if we won the last round, it would only be possible to be the third or second of the Season!”

Paulze2000: “Well I was surprised because i thought we landed in second. Then i learned that one of the members of the first place team violated the lichess rules and forfeited all his games putting us in first place. This is my first 1st place having finished in 2nd place in a previous season. I never thought we had a shot at winning it all. Going into the last round i thought we had a good chance to finish 2nd or 3rd. The forfeit by the first place team player gave us the victory”

gercondon: “I didn't think so at all as we were always behind. Before the last match I thought maybe we could get a podium spot.”

Outside of your championship, what will you remember season 42 for?

bobsouzabr: “I will remember this Season as the season that I started playing more OTB tournaments here in Brazil (Hello to Brazilians in the League!!). I played some OTB games during the Season and also started to use the experience of games that I played on Lichess4545 League to prepare for my OTB games. I think this experience allowed my game to improve online and also OTB.”

How would you react if each of the other members of your team turned into pumpkins, leaving you as the only one left to celebrate your season 42 championship?

bobsouzabr: “I would like to become a pumpkin too! We are a team!! If one of us becomes a pumpkin, every player has to turn into a pumpkin also to celebrate as a team

---

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.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA).
Interview conducted by @fork2020