Author: Jean

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Passed Events

End of semester FS22 tournament

To celebrate the end of the semester, we organized one last blitz tournament on the 31 of May in the HG.

As the first players joined in and registered for the tournament, they proceeded with a few warm up games. Soon though 24 players would have joined the tournament and everyone was ready to start.

It was Matej who started the tournament in a dominant manner with four wins in the same amount of games. We were already familiar with his skills and many of us might have already though the tournament win was his. However, we were all surprise to see him beaten in the fifth game against Henry who was the clear underdog as he had lost his first game. This unexpected win meant that five players (Matej, Henry, Markus, Ritvik and Vincent) where now tied with four points out of five.

The last two games were not enough to decide a winner and it had to come to the Buchholz points. It was Matej who got this extra help from his previous opponents and Henry got the second place, both with six points. Markus took third place thank to a good Buchholz. The final rankings are available at the below.

Thomas, our president left to the top 3 players: Henry, Matej and Markus.
Final rankings

We hope to see you next semester for new tournaments and events. Stay tuned, we’re cooking up pretty exciting stuff. In the mean time have nice holidays and gl for your exams!

Categories
Passed Events

Polychamps II

And bETH Harmon ist just a little better than her opponent.

Following last year’s success, we decided to reiterate the Polychamps, the annual chess confrontation between the EPFL and ETHZ. It took place on the 3rd of May 2022. The format was mostly the same a lichess team battle arena in 5’+3”. However, the number of participants was limited to 75 as we learnt from the last edition that having balanced teams was very important. The number of players reached 143, less than last year, but it didn’t stop top tier players to tune in. Remembering their loss from last year, EPFL players were eager to take their revenge. However, from Zürich’s side, we all knew how it would end.

Livestream started a few minutes before the tournament and one of our best players FM Theo Stijve, a Computer Science student at ETH, traded his role as our lead player to commentator. He did a fantastic role of analyzing and commenting the games. Trying to keep up with insightful and precise analysis, Paul and Jean accompanied him for the stream as biased consultants, as for them being Welsch or Bourbine changed your game valuation drastically.

Could we add a no fork rule in the arena ? knights are too tricky

chacha_lulu

As soon as the tournament kicked off some interesting rule changes were proposed as some players were feeling the game did not fit their taste.

refusing en passant is a federal crime, like tax evasion

augusto_jc

On a more serious note the tournament was very tight all hour an a half long. Initially EPFL took a serious lead thanks to GontranDemiSel getting an impressive streak on his first 9 games, Bezerking in every single one of them. Although he was stopped by Spirit_Of_Light in his 10th game, he finished top of the table when it comes to the individual classification.

After this thriving start from La Dame Blanche, it would really take a great effort from our team SKETHZ to come back. But thanks to our incredible density of strong players this was done in a fantastic manner. Seven of the top ten final classification where from team ETH. Special shoutout to mateodezpolo who came in clutch winning all his game but the first two he played.

All games can be seen and replayed on https://lichess.org/tournament/xoRtOybY

This year’s edition was heaps of fun thanks to all the players and organizers. We can already tell you this great tradition that is the Polychamps will continue for a 3rd edition next year already, in a very new and exciting format. Stay tuned for the news!

Categories
Passed Events

Easter Tournament

On Tuesday 13th of April, we gathered for a laid-back tournament in the HG. With a time control of 5+3, we manage to squeeze seven rounds that evening. But it seems that wasn’t quite enough to decide a clear winner as two players finished on top with six points. However, with Bucholz as tie-breaker, Thomas leaped before Ritvik to take first place. The two leaders where followed by Yun Pan (5), Jonas (4.5) and Anna (4). Congrats to all the players and thanks for participating!

By the way if you’re reading this, what type of tournament would you like to play next? Longer time control, more rounds, more at stake (like the ETH champion title?)… tell us on instagram or at via email at skethz@ethz.ch
See you next time around !
(Spoiler: Polychamps incoming)