What a great day. There is no other way to describe the seventh edition of our biggest event of the year: the Polychamps. In our annual battle for the title of Switzerland’s best chess university, ETH faced EPFL on home turf at ETH Hönggerberg. With three wins each over the past six editions, the stakes were particularly high: we had to win or risk enormous reputational damage that would inevitably bring great shame upon the entire university.
Our team, carefully selected through our qualification tournaments, was certainly up to the task. Noah, on board one, was playing his fifth Polychamps, Vincent has dominated our recent tournaments, and Olivier and Hong Wei completed our top four, all rated above 2000. On boards five and six were our two very strong female players, Ramona and Sevda, while boards seven and eight featured two underrated players: Ved and Aditya. Despite our strong lineup, EPFL had brought an even stronger team on paper. And with another 1.5 points at stake in the online tournament, for which we have a notably weak track record, every point would matter.
| ETH Player | EPFL Player |
|---|---|
| Noah Fecker (2345) | Jakub Chyzy (2328) |
| Vincent Lou (2194) | Lorenzo Bardone (2225) |
| Olivier Tschopp (2069) | Raphael Erne (2152) |
| Hong Wei Zheng (2037) | Markus Fasching (2072) |
| Ramona Golsta (1946) | Colin Moesching (1926) |
| Sevda Reding (1827) | Thomas Hetier (1794) |
| Aditya Eswaran (1617) | Veronique Bogouslavskii (1633) |
| Ved Bhatawdekar (1602) | Samantha Belaz (1780) |
The online tournament was the first to finish, and it spelled trouble. After an essentially equal first 30 minutes, EPFL gained a small lead and kept extending it until they were a solid 90 points ahead. At 0–1.5 for the visitors, ETH needed to win the OTB games by at least 5–3. A challenging task…
Cue our underrated players, Ved and Aditya. Both played solid games and gained the upper hand in the middlegame. Ved was up a piece, while Aditya took a risk with a queen sacrifice and also came out on top. Both converted their advantages, putting ETH ahead at 2–1.5.
The next game to finish was on board one. Noah played a solid but highly complex game that became even harder to follow when his opponent, Jakub, sacrificed a rook for a bishop. At least, that was where I gave up trying to understand the lines. The moves that followed were critical, and Noah missed a chance to escape trouble in a complicated line. Jakub punished him for it, putting EPFL back in front at 2–2.5.
It was up to Ramona and Sevda to bring us back again. Both were very evenly matched with their opponents. Sevda gained the upper hand several times, but in a difficult endgame involving a queen and two rooks on both sides, she missed the one winning move. Understandably so: even after looking at the engine lines, I still don’t quite see why that move was so essential. Ramona’s game also ended in a draw, with only one small blunder during her entire game that her opponent fortunately failed to exploit. EPFL remained half a point ahead.
But that lead was only theoretical. By this point, all three remaining ETH players had built solid advantages. Vincent was up a pawn in an endgame where his opponent’s bishop had been rendered essentially useless. Olivier exploited a weakness in his opponent’s position and eventually won the queen. Hong Wei gobbled up two pawns thanks to weaknesses in his opponent’s pawn structure. All three converted their games, securing a convincing 6–3.5 victory for ETH. Shame avoided, and redirected to the university that deserves it: EPFL 🙂
This event would not have been possible without the many people behind it. Huge thanks to Ana Marija and Lorenzo for the main organization, Owen for the stream, Ramona for our social media marketing, and Nils, Edmund, and Anselm for handling the DGT boards and arbitration. Hope everyone had a great time, and see you next year!
You can watch the livestream here and the Lichess broadcast here.
| ETH Player | Result | EPFL Player |
|---|---|---|
| Noah Fecker (2345) | 0-1 | Jakub Chyzy (2328) |
| Vincent Lou (2194) | 1-0 | Lorenzo Bardone (2225) |
| Olivier Tschopp (2069) | 1-0 | Raphael Erne (2152) |
| Hong Wei Zheng (2037) | 1-0 | Markus Fasching (2072) |
| Ramona Golsta (1946) | 1/2-1/2 | Colin Moesching (1926) |
| Sevda Reding (1827) | 1/2-1/2 | Thomas Hetier (1794) |
| Aditya Eswaran (1617) | 1-0 | Veronique Bogouslavskii (1633) |
| Ved Bhatawdekar (1602) | 1-0 | Samantha Belaz (1780) |
