"Chess mate!" triumphed the chess wizard from Trubschachen, after he had moved his black queen from c5 to c2 leaving the white king no way out. This first game in the speed chess tournament was done and dusted so quickly that your correspondent didn't even have time to note down the moves.

And things had started so promisingly! In preparation yours truly had delved into chess books, entitled "Attack on the King", "200 opening moves" and "Attack and Counterattack", and seriously studied the rulebook of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) (1) . Then the first game. White employs a Spanish opening. Black answers with a variation of the "Spaniard". The initial sacrifice of a few pawns smoothes the way for the more noble figures to enter the battle of black vs. white. Very soon white has cleared enough room at the back to castle his opponent's rook, a manoeuvre generally meant to confuse the opponent, according to the literature...

White now realises a first mistake in his battle disposition and remembers the old chess adage, about the "knight at the edges being powerless". And this is where the decisive blunder occurs: a miscalculation of eight possible points of attack and, Bob's your uncle, the white queen is driven from the field. No quarter is given; the rule of conduct–"a piece touched is a piece played"–also applies to amateur players. Only a few moves later it's the bitter end for the white king (2) .

Checkmate: The black queen dominating the white king.

"Yes, I usually play in a chess club," admits Simon Thuner, a 26-year old student of architecture after the game. But he wasn't the only "professional" taking part in the tournament. "I've just seen some even better players from the national leagues," he says.

One of them is 25-year old Simon Bohnenblust, studying environmental science in his 9th semester and holder of 2,160 ELO points (see box). Bohnenblust was Swiss Junior Champion 1998 and went on to win the Danish Junior Championship. He plays in the National League B today. But this evening he's looking forward to a more laid-back tournament, because lots of amateurs are participating. "But I'm only the number 2 in the room", he admits. Number one is standing nearby.

Number one is Roland Lötscher, 22 years old, current holder of 2,336 ELO points and studying mathematics–at ETH Zurich, naturally–in his 7th semester. He too has held the title of Swiss Junior Master–only a year after number two. He went on to become Italian Junior Master and plays in the National league A today. Can Lötscher gauge the strengths of an opponent, by the shape of the nose, for example, wonders the amateur. "In principle, I can usually guess the current level of ELO points of the more professional players," says Lötscher.

In addition, the ELO number is a pretty accurate gauge of the result of a chess game. One has far less chance of winning a game against an opponent with 300 or more ELO points. Perhaps one could leave the tournament out of the picture and rank participants according to their points, remarks the amateur. Surrender was not necessarily negative, answers the grandmaster and adds, almost philosophically, "The stronger player is not only distinguished by good moves, but also by surrendering at an early point in a [lost] game."

Number 1, Roland Lötscher (right), just before his second game at board no. 13.

Total concentration and frying brains of the chess enthusiasts in the final round (right, number 2, Simon Bohnenblust).

At Zurich's first university derby in speed chess, many of the participants seem to have met already at other tournaments and greet one another at the start of the evening like old acquaintances. Together with the Chess Club Reti, the students' associations VSETH and StuRa have set up 64 tables in the upper canteen of the University. But instead of the 40 registered people, twice as many players showed up which lead to major bottlenecks at the tables.

Owing to a number of spontaneous additions to the list of participants all reserve boards the organisers could find had to be set up.

Opponents were determined according to the so-called Swiss system in which, at the start of each round, the organisers carried out a random selection using a laptop. "In our system, the challenge for the player is that the more games one wins, the stronger one's next opponent will be," explains Simon Thuner. A further advantage is that, compared to a knockout system, like that used for a tennis tournament, for example, amateur players aren't out straight away but are also able to play seven rounds until 11 p.m.

"Three-quarters of the participants come from ETH Zurich“, say organisers Mikael Portmann and Elias Bürli from VSETH. Apart from two women the chess tournament is a purely male affair. Why? Perhaps it has to do with strategic thinking being more popular with men at ETH, hazards one of the organisers. Simon Bohnenblust, doesn't agree: "Chess is a creative process–more mathematics than logic.“ And Adrienne Fiechtner, one of the two female participants, also thinks that, "lots of women are just too timid to take part in a tournament".

The atmosphere in the room during games is as silent as the grave and total concentration reigns supreme. Only the sound of chess pieces being moved backwards and forwards breaks the silence, and, towards the end of a game, the brusque stopping of the chess clocks on the tables. No commentaries, no discussions, no ringing mobile phones. "If your mobile rings, you automatically lose that game," explains one professional citing a new regulation of his chess club.

|The three winners with the Cup (from left to right): ETH students Simon Bohnenblust, Roland Lötscher and Panagiotis Adamantidis.

Shortly after 11 p.m. the hour has arrived. After seven rounds of 15-minute games and 224 games played in all the winner of Zurich's first derby speed chess has emerged. As expected, it's Roland Lötscher–the best player in the tournament according to ELO points. Naturally, he's going to invest the prize money (100 Swiss francs) in chess books. In second place–no surprise here either–Simon Bohnenblust, with the same number of wins as Panagiotis Adamantidis, he too a student of mathematics (see photo of the three ETH students with the Cup). A complete list of rankings can be found at (5) .

More attractive prizes at the Jass tournament (f.r.t.l.): Plaited yeast loaf, ham, salami, wine and a selection of cheeses.