ETH Chess Championship 2026

With summer in the air, the fourth edition of our ETH Chess Championship was bound to be a success. In total, 34 players joined us to determine who would become the new ETH Chess King and Queen, along with the winners of 8 other prizes handed out in all sorts of categories. With none of our past Kings (Theo, Kirill) or Queens (Ana Marija, Anna) present, new champions were guaranteed. But who would claim these coveted titles?

Today was a special day for another reason as well: for the first time, we used our very own tournament system, integrating all past tournaments with ratings and memberships. As is proper these days, it was entirely vibe-coded without writing a single line of code. Surprisingly, it worked. From now on, organizing tournaments should be even easier, with everything reduced to clicking a few buttons to start and run one. Tournament results are also much more accessible for our participants, making life easier for everyone involved.

With the new software showing the first pairings, our 34 players took their seats and started their games. As usual, the first rounds were smooth sailing for our top competitors, and it quickly became clear that Vincent and Olivier were heading for a head-to-head battle. In round 4, they finally met, and after a terribly complex time scramble, Vincent managed to rake in the win. After that, it was smooth sailing for him: Vincent impressively won all nine rounds, becoming the first ETH Chess King to ever do so and finishing a full two points ahead of the competition.

After 6 rounds, it seemed like Olivier was cruising towards second place, having only lost his game against Vincent. However, in the seventh round he dropped his first half-point by drawing against Sinan, and in round 9, calamity struck after a long game against Yun, where he lost another point. This was enough for Sinan to take over second place, with Olivier ending third, tied with Yun but ahead on tiebreaks.

Meanwhile, the next ETH Chess Queen seemed decided almost from the start. With a solid 3 points after the first four rounds, Ramona managed to stay well clear of her competition, eventually finishing with a 4.5/9 score and taking over from Ana Marija as Chess Queen.

Of course, plenty of other prizes were also handed out. Lawrence managed to beat the system and outperform his own rating by 250 points, scoring a very nice 1958 performance on the day. Matthias won the underdog award by beating the player who eventually finished 10th in the final ranking. The prize for best player below 1800 went to Ved, while the awards for best Bachelor, Master, and “Non-Bachelor Non-Master” player (yes, we really should have come up with a better name) went to Max, Yun, and Silviu, respectively.