Our year has once again begun! As usual, the first event to kick things off was the Polychamps Qualification Tournament. Fifty participants gathered in a too-small room for some good old-fashioned chess, all hoping to qualify for the Polychamps against EPFL on November 8. This will already be the sixth edition, with ETH currently leading the series 3-2.
It was great to see so many familiar faces back at the boards after the summer break. The room was buzzing with conversation before (and sometimes during) the rounds, and even though the space was a bit tight, the atmosphere stayed cheerful. As always, there was plenty of discussion, a touch of friendly rivalry, and lots of catching up between games.
Usually, the first tournament of the year announces the arrival of some new top-shot player who has just arrived at ETH and goes straight for the top spot. This year, however, it was mostly our strongest regulars battling it out. Notably, Noah joined with a clear goal in mind: to secure one of those Polychamps spots. He did so in style, finishing with a perfect 7/7. Nobody managed to beat him today. His Polyrating also took a significant jump, although not yet enough to surpass our current ETH Chess Champion, Theo.
Who would complete the top three? Would it be Kirill, another regular player in the top 10 of our Polyrating system? Unfortunately not. After losing to Noah, he also went down in the last round against Olivier, the current number four in the system. That victory was crucial for Olivier, as it placed him in second with 6/7.
The third spot turned out to be the real surprise. The player who took it was not even on the radar for the podium until the very last round. Calvin lost his first game and drew the second, which usually makes a top finish unlikely. However, he steadily climbed back, winning his last five games and finishing third with 5.5/7. In the end, we did get a new name among the top scorers, just in a much more unexpected way than usual.
Below, you can find some pictures and the full table. We hope everyone had fun!
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Rank | Name | Rating | Score | BH | BH-C1 | Performance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Noah Fecker | 2398 | 7.0 | 31.0 | 28.0 | 2444 |
2 | Olivier Tschopp | 2320 | 6.0 | 30.5 | 27.5 | 2248 |
3 | Calvin Chiu | 1901 | 5.5 | 26.5 | 23.5 | 1901 |
4 | Kirill Zaitsev | 2237 | 5.0 | 33.0 | 30.5 | 2148 |
5 | Davide Guidobene | 1992 | 5.0 | 32.5 | 29.5 | 2071 |
6 | Vincent Lou | 2254 | 5.0 | 31.0 | 28.0 | 2025 |
7 | Nicolás Piro | 2049 | 5.0 | 29.5 | 28.0 | 2049 |
8 | Hongwei Zheng Shi | 1946 | 5.0 | 28.5 | 26.5 | 1946 |
9 | Milko Bakalov | 2051 | 5.0 | 27.5 | 26.0 | 1987 |
10 | Writabrata Roy | 1809 | 5.0 | 25.5 | 23.5 | 1809 |
11 | Max Newsome | 1963 | 4.5 | 31.5 | 29.0 | 1905 |
12 | Batuhan Iliev | 1917 | 4.5 | 30.0 | 27.0 | 1917 |
13 | Jesus Jair Reyes Gutierrez | 1659 | 4.0 | 28.5 | 26.5 | 1757 |
14 | Tom Crossley | 1765 | 4.0 | 28.0 | 25.0 | 1765 |
15 | Ved Bhatawadekar | 1815 | 4.0 | 27.0 | 25.5 | 1815 |
16 | Vlad Ciuleanu | 1424 | 4.0 | 25.5 | 23.0 | 1584 |
17 | Giulio Abreu | 1694 | 4.0 | 25.0 | 23.5 | 1694 |
18 | Dorian Quelle | 1805 | 4.0 | 25.0 | 23.0 | 1699 |
19 | Béla Imre Kammermann | 1675 | 4.0 | 24.5 | 23.0 | 1675 |
20 | Lorenzo Vettor | 1860 | 4.0 | 24.0 | 20.0 | 1682 |
21 | Mehmet Arslan | 1588 | 4.0 | 23.0 | 21.0 | 1588 |
22 | Krithik Chockalingam | 1638 | 4.0 | 22.5 | 21.5 | 1553 |
23 | Chris Hartl | 1507 | 3.5 | 27.5 | 25.0 | 1604 |
24 | Lawrence Scafuri | 1636 | 3.5 | 25.0 | 22.5 | 1486 |
25 | Zoran Dragnic | 1510 | 3.5 | 24.0 | 23.0 | 1568 |
26 | Silas Tapernoux | 1544 | 3.5 | 23.5 | 22.5 | 1544 |
27 | Andreas Buchheit | 1365 | 3.5 | 19.5 | 18.0 | 1365 |
28 | Neryvaldo Galvao | 1488 | 3.0 | 27.0 | 26.0 | 1561 |
29 | Sander de Haan | 1562 | 3.0 | 27.0 | 24.5 | 1562 |
30 | Isabel Andrea Almasan | 1447 | 3.0 | 23.5 | 21.5 | 1447 |
31 | Konstantinos Kiori | 1383 | 3.0 | 22.5 | 22.5 | 1382 |
32 | Leopold Reigl | 1335 | 3.0 | 22.0 | 20.5 | 1417 |
33 | Ziya teleti | 1398 | 3.0 | 22.0 | 20.5 | 1398 |
34 | Younes Mouhib | 1371 | 3.0 | 21.0 | 19.5 | 1294 |
35 | Nahin Kahn | 1375 | 3.0 | 19.5 | 16.5 | 1375 |
36 | Luis felipe prates cattelan | 1453 | 3.0 | 19.0 | 19.0 | 1352 |
37 | Manthan Gadhia | 1236 | 3.0 | 18.5 | 17.0 | 1236 |
38 | Pablo Petersen | 1446 | 2.5 | 25.0 | 22.5 | 1446 |
39 | Ilia Moghayer | 1378 | 2.5 | 23.5 | 22.0 | 1378 |
40 | Robin Rudin | 1163 | 2.5 | 15.5 | 15.5 | 1163 |
41 | Ricard Pozo Guti | 1391 | 2.0 | 26.5 | 24.0 | 1391 |
42 | Uri Kreitner | 1581 | 2.0 | 24.5 | 22.5 | 1581 |
43 | Alex Savca | 1222 | 2.0 | 22.0 | 20.0 | 1222 |
44 | Merlin Weiss | 1075 | 2.0 | 19.5 | 19.5 | 1075 |
45 | Emanuel Frank | 848 | 2.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 988 |
46 | Philippe Walcher | 1206 | 1.5 | 23.5 | 22.0 | 1206 |
47 | Fabian Egger | 1222 | 1.5 | 22.5 | 21.0 | 1222 |
48 | Lukas Kaldune | 1022 | 1.5 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 1022 |
49 | Lenny Schürch | 914 | 1.0 | 18.0 | 17.0 | 914 |
50 | benjamin dropmann | 604 | 0.0 | 16.0 | 14.5 | 604 |