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Home of Team CC.COM

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• Meet the Team
• Champions League information
• Rules of Play for the CL
• In the Dragon's Lair
• Crosstables/pairings
• Replay Knudsen's Games
• Replay Hill's Games
• Replay Campbell's Games
• Replay Marconi's Games

• ICCF Crosstables for All Groups

• ICCF Crosstables Group 5

Commentary for 27-January-2004:
Team CC.COM Makes Impact on ICCF
Team CC.COM accepts that we have not created tremendous difficulties for other teams in the Champions League competition, but we can claim to have made an impact overall.

Board 1 SIM John "Great Dane" Knudsen: John, through the creation of CC.COM and TCCMB, has made a big impression on the cc world. Having served as Executive Director, created the ICCF Direct Entry facility, and he has served ICCF in many other ways as well, such as on the server Expert Committee. He is currently on an important ICCF Appeals commision.

Board 2 Grayling "The Hitman" Hill: Grayling is currently on the ICCF Executive Committee serving an elected term as Finance Director. He recently received his International Arbiter title and has just finished directing the 1st E-mail U. S. Correspondence Chess Championship (Final Round).

Board 3 Franklin "Mad Dog" Campbell: Franklin has also served on the ICCF server Expert Committee and as Press Officer, publishing reports on the 2000 Daytona Beach ICCF Congress. As Webmaster for The Campbell Report and the ICCF-U.S. office he continues to report on ICCF activities. Currently he is in charge of updating the Champions League crosstables and has added a page of CL team links and logos.

Board 4 Ralph "The Masher" Marconi: Ralph has been webmaster for Ralph Marconi's Chess Page for 5-6 years reporting on ICCF activities and maintaining key NAPZ crosstables. He also created and maintains the web pages for the Canadian National Federation CCCA. He served as an elected Presidium member for four years as NAPZ Director (1999-2003).

Of course, all four team members continue to offer "valuable advice and commentary" on a regular basis on the TCCMB message board. All cc enthusiasts naturally benefit from their excellent advice and insightful comments!

It's no surprise that involvement in so many important ICCF-related activities has impacted the play of the team in the current Champions League event. However, after settling into the "D" league things will surely change. It seems almost unfair to unleash our awesome power on the unsuspecting teams in league "D". However, life isn't always fair. The excitement is already starting to build for the team as we contemplate heading into a fresh competition. No more "Mr. Nice Guys" for the team as we sharpen our claws for the coming bloodbath!

News Flash 6-June-2003:
Hitman Ambushes Opponent with the Colle!
The "Hitman" (and Team CC.COM captain) made use of the so called "club player" Colle Opening for a nice win. He's used this opening before to beat a Grandmaster, who was also from The Netherlands! Check this CL game out on the java replay page Replay Hill's Games. Here is the referenced win with this opening against the GM:
Grayling Hill (USA) vs. GM Hendrik Sarink (NED), ICCF 50 IM-C: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 b6 4.Bd3 Bb7 5.0-0 e6 6.b3 Be7 7.Bb2 0-0 8.c4 Nbd7 9.Nc3 Ne4 10.Rc1 c5 11.Qc2 f5 12.Rfd1 Qe8 13.cxd5 exd5 14.dxc5 Bxc5 15.b4 Bxb4 16.Nxe4 fxe4 17.Qc7 Bc8 18.Qc6 Nc5 19.Qxa8 Nxd3 20.Rxd3 exd3 21.Rc7 d4 22.Bxd4 Be7 23.Qxa7 Rf7 24.Qxb6 Bg4 25.Rc3 Bxf3 26.gxf3 d2 27.Rd3 Qc8 28.Qb3 Qc1+ 29.Kg2 Qc6 30.e4 Qg6+ 31.Kh1 Qh6 32.Be5 Qh3 33.Kg1 Qh6 34.Bg3 Qg5 35.Rd7 1-0

News Flash 14-Feb-2003:
The Great Dane Finishes Playing Schedule with Plus Score
According the the CL stats published by Peter Coleman on TCCMB the strongest CL group is Group 5, the group Team CC.COM is playing in. Thus it must be considered a good result to finish with an even score. Team CC.COM's Board 1 John "Great Dane" Knudsen has now finished play with the good score of 5.5/10. Congratulations, Great One! . You can see the java replay at Replay Knudsen's Games.

News Flash 19-Jan-2003:
The Great Dane chalks up another full point!
Team CC.COM's board 1 John "The Great Dane" Knudsen has racked up another full point vs. his Back Rank Mates opponent Joan Canal Oliveras (ESP). You can see the java replay at Replay Knudsen's Games.

News Flash 23-Sept-2002:
Team CC.COM Board 1 John "The Great Dane" Knudsen has finished another game with a draw as Black against Heinrich Schwenk (GER), the unrated top board of team Rochade 5171 - D.G. Chessknights. This pushes our team score to 5½ - 3½. The game is available for replay on the Great Dane's Replay page. The Great Dane has finished seven games, now, while boards 2 and 3 have yet to finish a single game. That is one fast dog!

"The Great Dane" Top Board for Team CC-COM

News Flash 16-Sept-2002:
Team CC.COM Board 1 John "The Great Dane" Knudsen has drawn another strong player, his 2496-rated opponent from the Italian team Societa' Scacchistica Novarese This pushes our team score to 5 - 3. The game is already available for replay on the Great Dane's Replay page. After six games finished versus the toughest opponents our board 1 has maintained his plus score and Team CC.COM is a nice plus 2.

"The Masher" in his role as ICCF NAPZ Director

News Flash 13-Sept-2002:
Team CC.COM Board 4 Ralph "The Masher" Marconi has drawn highly-rated opponent! Our team score is now 4½-2½. The game should be available shortly for replay on the Replay page. Check out his draw vs. his CXEB-BRS opponent Reginaldo de Castro Cerqueira Filho (rated 2426)

Our board 4 not only plays excellent chess, he also serves on the ICCF Presidium as the Director for the North America/Pacific Zone (NAPZ), directs tournaments, maintains his personal cc web site Ralph Marconi's Chess Page and CCCA, maintains crosstables, serves as team captain and organizer for various events, has served on the board of CCCA and CCLA and generally serves the correspondence community very well.

News Flash 22-Aug-2002:
Team CC.COM Board 3 Franklin "Mad Dog" Campbell has announced his revolutionary new chess tool to promote excellent play! "The secret", he advised, "is in the feet! It is vitally important to have relaxed, comfortable feet."

Fortunately, Mad Dog's wife Anne "Wild Cat" Campbell is a master knitter and has devised the perfect socks to craddle the dog's dogs in extreme comfort. "These baby's don't even come off at night. I wake up in the morning with the most relaxed feet imaginable!" Relaxed feet lead to the superb concentration so necessary to high level correspondence chess competition. Mad Dog's feet are clothed in red, green, yellow, blue and other colors sure to cause opponents to be green with envy. As these words are being written the creator of the doggie delights is at a knitters' convention in Ohio collecting more ideas and patterns to create even more wonderful chess socks. Where will it all end? The Mad One's final words to his opponents: "I'm going to knock your (dull & inferior) socks off!!"

News Flash 22-Aug-2002:
Team CC.COM Board 1 John "Great Dane" Knudsen has defeated Ray Fourzan from the "Yetman Brothers' Descriptive Chess Magazine A" team for another team victory! Our team score is now 2½-½.

To mark the occasion of his second result, John has created our first JavaScript replay page to show his two finished games: John's Finished Games. Other replay pages will appear as teammates finish games.

News Flash 16-July-2002:
Team CC.COM Board 4 has defeated his opponent from the "Yetman Brothers' Descriptive Chess Magazine A" team for our first victory! Ralph "The Masher" Marconi has chalked up the first of many points for Team CC.COM to give us a score of 1½-½ at this early stage. More victories are sure to come in the near future. Stay tuned for the fabulous exploits of Team CC.COM! A finished games section will be coming soon.

For now, congratulations to Ralph Marconi, NAPZ Director, Tournament Director, Webmaster, International Arbiter, possessor of the ICCF Bertl von Massow Award for service to the cc community and possessor of Team CC.COM's first full point!

On April 08, 2002 Harold Bearceposted the following message on TCCMB: “Congratulations, Grayling, for your qualification to the semifinals in the ICCF XII World Cup!” He was referring to Team CC.COM's Captain and Board 2 Grayling "The Hitman" Hill. Check out the crosstable at the left for the amazing details of his victory and qualification to the World Cup XII Semi-finals. Giving up a single draw in ten games he easily took the top position and advanced with "Big Mo'"

This great achievement should also provide substantial momentum going into the ICCF Champions League competition. The whole team takes courage from this outstanding result timed perfectly to motivate the entire team to a super performance. We salute you, Captain Grayling Hill, for this superior level of performance which will stand as a great example for your teammates in what can be achieved through effort and skill.

Team CC.COM is honored to present our official team fish Mr. Piranha, affectionately called "Ronny" by his teammates. Warning ... don't call this bad boy "Piranha" or "fish" or he may bite your lips off! One of our training techniques is to dangle our fingers at the top of his tank while analyzing. If you can concentrate while Ronny is nibbling on your finger tips then you can concentrate any time, any place. Team CC.COM challenges the other teams to answer this critical question ... when are you going to have the nerve to introduce us to your team fish??!!

Team CC.COM is pleased to announce the recent addition of Miss Alison, former trainer of the Potaissa Turda team, as it's new Trainer-in-Residence. When asked about her recent team change she commented, "While the players on Potaissa Turda are very funny, there is far too much confusion on the team. The constant attempted recruitment of supposed stronger players leaves little time for serious training. I was attracted to Team CC.COM due to their obvious ability, seriousness and flair. I am confident that these qualities, matched with my proven training methods, will result in securing Team CC.COM a place in the ICCF Champions League A Division."

Miss Alison is shown with Grayling "The Hitman" Hill, Captain of Team CC.COM, analyzing a recent victory in the ICCF World Cup XII preliminary, which secured his advancement to the semifinals.

News Flash 9-Feb-2002

"Mad Dog Campbell Prepares himself for the Upcoming Competition"

Team CC.COM Board 3 J. Franklin "Mad Dog" Campbell has solved this problem scientifically by creating a clone of himself for training matches and joint analysis of "their" opening repertoire. Normally, a clone starts out as a tiny cell which matures into a baby. In this case, a great scientific advance (inspired by dedication to the ideals of team competition) has allowed for creation of this clone matching Mad Dog's age and experience, which allows for a unique and valuable collaboration. This is just part of the comprehensive and intense program to prepare Team CC.COM for the rigors of competition in the Champions League. Are you prepared to face this dedicated crew? Can you tell which in the picture above is the original "Mad Dog" Campbell and which is the clone? Ha ha ha ha ha ....

News Flash 5-Feb-2002
Team CC.COM Board 1 IM John Knudsen, in an act of team solidarity, has grown a beard! How can you measure true team dedication? ... by actions! Doing what some would consider the impossible, "The Great Dane" has grown a luxuriant beard virtually overnight. When asked how this was possible, he cooly replied, "When you pursue team goals with dedication and intensity, anything is possible." Stay tuned for the further exploits of the incredible foursome known as Team CC.COM.