With all the boards set up and all the players primed and ready, the third edition of Polychamps was carried out in the ETH Dozentenfoyer on Saturday, November 5th with a great view over the city of Zurich, the lake and the snowy mountains on the horizon. This also meant that for the first time 8 player from each university could look each other in the eye, while trying to fork, skewer and checkmate each other in classical games.
Additionally, we organized an online blitz tournament for over 60 other players who did not qualify, but still wanted to play. It was as 90 minutes team arena with the winning university getting not only 1 point, but also the deciding tiebreaker if the overall result is a draw – which indeed happened after the last king was checkmated.
To top it all off, we arranged a twitch stream with GM Sebastian Bogner, Paul Dumoulin and Jasper Dekoninck as commentators, offering quality insights into the game plans and player psychology in this high stress environment. The stream can be viewed again following this link.
With convincing wins by Noah, Matej and Ana and an even harder fought point by Theo, SKETHZ managed to secure the OTB section with 4.5 – 3.5 points. Lukas went for the draw in a bishop for 2 pawns endgame, whereas Matej, Gohar and Anna sadly missed their chances against strong opponents. Nonetheless, all the game were high quality chess and very interesting to watch.
As an attentive reader, you might have guessed how the blitz tournament went. Unfortunately, the strong performances by Ritvik999, P1RU and Videvide were not enough and EPFL decided this section for themselves and evening out the score. As the tiebreaker was decided online per regulation, EPFL won by the slightest possible margin for the first time. Apparently for next time, we have to improve our online performance.
Congratulations to the winners of La Dame Blanche! Additional reading material can be found on the websites of Akademischer Schachklub Réti and the Swiss Chess Association.
As usual, an OTB win is rewarded with a point, a draw with 0.5. The total results are:
| ETHZ | 4.5 : 5 | EPFL |
| FM Noah Fecker | 1 : 0 | Julien Joly |
| FM Theo Stijve | 1 : 0 | Damien Ribière |
| Matej Jusup | 1 : 0 | Aleksandr Pak |
| CM Mateo Rodriguez Polo | 0 : 1 | Grégoire Tissier |
| Gohar Tamrazyan | 0 : 1 | WFM Hallgerdur Thorsteinsdottir |
| Anna Adzic | 0 : 1 | Wissam Pheng |
| Lukas Oestmann | 0.5:0.5 | Bénédict Wasserfallen |
| Ana Marija Vego | 1 : 0 | Sophia Pheng |
| Lichess: ETH Chess Club | 0 : 1.5 | Lichess: La Dame Blanche |