SGM 2024-2024 - 2. Bundesliga

Round 2 (2.11.2024): Saved by the last boards

We went out to St. Gallen with a few of our top players missing, so on the paper we were expected to be lower in ratings. They also had a few missing, so that the match expected result should only have been a close loss. But this was without counting on our last 3 boards: Giannis, Mikhail and Vital won three very convincing and clean games !
Miran had a very sharp position, and gave up an exchange for good passers, but had to give the point as the pressure was too hard to hold.
Hugo had a good draw on board 2, with a game that did not last too long.
Thomas got a worse position out of the opening, and had to sustain a strong attack on his castle, but his king did not make it out alive.
Christoph had interesting play, but his opponent was just too strong.
Whereas Arthur came out of the opening okay, and then went overboard out of excessive confidence. It backfired badly, but in the end was not fully punished as his opponent messed up the conversion in the endgame.

All in all, quite a good result given our suboptimal setup. The performance of our back boards is quite encouraging for the season :-)

Round 1 (26.10.2024): First counterperformance

A tough match. On paper the expected result was a draw.

Miran and Christoph both messed up a bit in the opening, one playing a too risky early attack, the other likely mixing up theory moves.
Arthur also had to regret a bad opening choice and was defending an objectively lost position until the opponent hallucinated and gave away the win.
Mikhail and Giannis both had very good games and advantages, but on one side got pressured by an unsportive opponent into reversing the attack, and on the other side both pressed until one cracked, and sadly it was our player.
Hugo had a good positional advantage, but probably not enough for the win; a few inaccuracies turned him on the worse side of the draw, but still a draw.
Both Dylan and Sacha had very clean games, the first a pristine-clean play to a rook endgame with plus-pawn, properly converted; the second pushing his opponent to take too many risks and fail in a bishop endgame.

SGM 2023-2024 - 2. Bundesliga

Promotion match (20.4.2024): A long day

The promotion match was secured thanks to a pretty good season.
But the match itself was a pain to organize. The communication of the tournament direction on the fix dates was catastrophic, and we learned of it way too late.
Which meant that we were going to miss out on some of our strongest players.
Add to that the fact that we had to play in Wallis against a mercenary team of mostly French pro-players, and it tells about our chances for a win.

The game was tough, but in the end it was just a complete but not total disaster.
Solid play from Felix and good win from Giannis at the last two boards.

End result 6.5-1.5 loss.
We will make sure to suggest a change of rules to align the player qualification rules to those much fairer of SMM (where you cannot have more than 1 foreign player above 2300 rating per season).

Round 7 (24.2.2024): Finishing with a smash

With the promotion match virtually in the pocket, we played with a relaxed mind the last match against the trailing team of the league, who had to try everything to save themselves from demotion.

All games went our way, except for a very tense one from Miran, who succombed to a speculative but strong attack from his dangerous opponent.
Rémi’s game was very impressive, with very neat control and clean transformation.

In the end, the 7-1 win was a slasher! The expected result on these ratings was a 4-4, so that was a really good end of the season.

Round 6 (10.2.2024): Doing the break

Going out against one of the weaker teams in the league, it was the occasion for us to do the break and give us enough margin against the concurrents for the first place. The young players of Zug were not to be underestimated though, as a few of them are new in chess and quite motivated/talented.

Good wins on both first boards, of which Lars’s does real good after quite a difficult season. Hugo gave us his usual risky and enjoyable to watch playing style. For once his taste for all-in play backfired, which gave Zug their only win. Christoph and Miran, the players in form, performed as usual and got more points home. Arthur, Giannis and Felix struggled quite a lot against the talented underrated new joiners, of which Felix took the full point and both others had to be content with draws.

A very good but expected 6-2 win, with no risk. That does good to the morale.

Round 5 (27.1.2024): Good chances for promotion match

On round 5 we had to go to Liechtenstein to play against Triesen. Always a refreshing train trip, with great landscapes and castles to admire!

Hugo quickly got into trouble out of the opening. He then went all out with a exchange sacrifice, which confused the opponent enough to push him to err. Full point thanks to cheekiness.
Thomas got a relative quick draw against an underrated youngster.
Arthur got himself tricked in the opening by a very dangerous player, and had to play for a draw early on. Good defensive ideas and sloppy endgame play from both sides ended up in a draw.
Giannis outplayed his opponent very cleanly, confirming his strategical talent and our hopes in his potential for the team.
Miran also was clinical; even if a little rule debate with his opponent regarding notation and the clock put him under a bit of stress.
Lars got the better in his game, and in a two-knights plus extra pawn vs two-bishops missed a tactic and had to give away the extra pawn. The draw was agreed upon a few moves later.
Christoph had the reverse: a two-bishops vs two-knights plus extra pawn to defend. It was very tricky, but in the end the tough defense he gave had to give in.
Dylan kept on the initiative for quite a long time in his game, until he converted it in a pawn advantage. Sadly, his opponent found a way to exchange queens and enter a nearly dead-drawn bishop endgame. Our player pushed hard, but didn’t find the path to victory.

Result: a 5-3 win
With this and the other teams’ results, it appears like we are the new favorites for getting the spot to the promotion match:

• Winterthur 2, the unexpected leaders, are not eligible to promotion, as their first team is already in the 1st league

• St. Gallen lost their match to Winterthur 2, pushing them back to the 4th rank

• We are favorites in our two last encounters of the season

Round 4 (13.1.2024): Defeated the favorites

St. Gallen were one of the top favorites this season, so we had all our reasons to give it all to beat them.
And we did, with a hard-fought 4.5-3.5 win!

Dylan was awaiting his revenge against the now above 2400-rated Noah Fecker. A very good opening preparation gave him a good edge, but the younger player managed to hold a draw.
Sacha and Hugo got draws too, against slightly weaker opponents, whereas Lars suffered in a long and difficult game against a stronger player, conceding the full point in the end.
Christoph and Arthur had great games and got full points, while Miran consolidated our advantage with a draw.
Vital was left to finish off the match, in a knight against bishop endgame. He confirmed the score by holding his own.

Round 3 (8.12.2023): Finally a convincing win

This is the match that truly starts our season.

Convincing wins from Sacha, Hugo, Christoph and Miran were completed by solid draws left and right.
Only full point given was on board 8 by our new recruit, but he was able to gather important experience against a dangerous young opponent.

Round 2 (25.11.2023): A messy game

This one started as a very tense and close match, culminated in a catastrophic scenario, and ended on a bitter note for both teams.

After solid draws from Martin and Hugo and a loss from Felix, we were remaining with a few complex games. Our new joiner Giannis easily outplayed his opponent to score himself a satisfying welcome in the team.
My game was very well fought from both sides, and apart from a subtle move that could have given an advantage, which I missed in zeitnot, the draw was a logical result.

Miran, in a difficult position after the opening, managed to lure his opponent into being overly materialistic, and ended up having a great attack. There was probably a win in the position to find, but it was also missed in time scramble, and the other player managed to find an escape into a dead drawn h-pawn with wrong bishop endgame.

We were left with two losing endgames on boards 1 and 4. Lars had to give the point to a promising young player, after letting a winning position slip in complications. Thomas was defending a difficult endgame with 3 pawns and a bishop against 2 pawns, knight and bishop. It was then brought to Arthur’s awareness that the opposing player was wearing a smartwatch. Acting as arbiter, he had no choice but to declare the game lost for him. Sprengschach's captain decided to ignore his arbitral duties and to make a scene. But, thanks to a quick confirmation with the league's chief arbiter, the point was settled. End result 4 to 4.

It was a weird situation, but it ended well.

Round 1 (4.11.2023): Close defeat in Zürich derby

It has always been a close fight with SG Zürich in SGM. This time, it was one for them.
A quick win for Christoph was compensated by a catastrophic opening by Thomas, who suffered a losing endgame for very long. A bit sad was the loss of Felix, who obtained a great advantage out of the opening. Draw from Miran was followed by a clean win from Vital against the despicable opponent captain. The last three games were on the top boards, where Lars secured a draw, and Sacha got forced into one. All was played on Dylan’s board. Both players did an impressive game, with our player getting a nearly winning advantage in the middlegame. True to his style, he went for an attack. The position was extremely tense, and his opponent found nealry all the best moves, until a time scramble situation where Dylan let the half point slip, after an exhausting fight. It was a very tense thing to see.

SGM 2022-2023 - 2. Bundesliga

Final standings:

After a season made difficult because of the calendars, we actually made it to the podium and clinched a very good second place!
Next season the league will be ours!

Round 7

We were nearly guaranteed a podium, but in the end we took a glorious close win to beat the league winners and claim second place!
Yet another incredible attacking game by Codrut, and solid games overall.

Round 6

Matches like this we would take any day. Pieces flew on the boards like if they were alive. Everyone had fun, and we were only a detail away from imposing an 8-0 to the weaker opponent.
Is it the coming back of our friend Codrut that put everyone in the right mood? :-)

Round 5

Round 5 was a solid 4-4 against Triesen, following the expected result.

Round 4

February is a vacation time it seems. We had only 6 players for this match, which ended in a 7-1 slap in the face.

Round 3

Round 3 was a solid win against a weaker team

Round 2

The league consisting of an odd number of teams, we are sitting out on round 2.
Next date is Round 3 on Saturday 21st of January 2023, against Gonzen.

Round 1

We start our season with a win! It was harder than expected, as we won by forfeit on board 8 (sorry Rémi, next time!).

SGM 2021-2022 - 2. Bundesliga

Schlussrangliste SGM 2022 / 2. Bundesliga

1. Triesen 7 24½
2. Nimzowitsch 7 21
3. Sprengschach 4 19
4. Réti II 4 19
5. St. Gallen 4 18
6. Zürich II 4 13½

SGM 2022 / 2. Bundesliga / 7. Runde / 23. April 2022
Réti 2 – Nimzowitsch 1 3½ : 4½
Thomas Allard – Christoph Drechsler 0-1
Robert Hauser – Martin Stehli 0-1
Michael Bühler – Arthur Toenz 1-0
Christoph Schmid – Hugo Kalbermatter ½-½
Hallgerdur Thorsteinsdottir – Geoffrey Myers 0-1
Peter Walpen – Miran Alic 1-0
Fabian Lang – Felix Schwab 0-1
Edmund Hofstetter FF 1-0

This concludes a difficult season as a team, where we had a hard time ever getting a full roster. I hope this was only because of covid, and that next year the motivation will be back.
Overall, we ranked second, which is a very good place in the end. It was good being able to rely on a team core of motivated players, and having beers and pizzas (or pinsas?) after the games :-)

SGM 2022 / 2. Bundesliga / 6. Runde / 12. März 2022
St. Gallen 1 – Nimzowitsch 1 2½ : 5½
Noah Fecker – Dylan Viennot 1 : 0
Elias Giesinger – Christoph Drechsler 1 : 0
Christian Salerno – Hugo Kalbermatter 0 : 1
Uros Nisavic – Arthur Toenz (2098) 0 : 1
Benito Rusconi – Miran Alic (2067) ½ : ½
Halit Rexhepi – Thomas Heerd (2043) 0 : 1
Jan Fecker – Geoffrey Myers (2096) 0 : 1
Dimitri Kindle – Heinz Vifian (1868) 0 : 1
– Arthur Tönz –

SGM 2022 / 2. Bundesliga / 5. Runde / 12. März 2022
SG Zürich 2 – Nimzowitsch 1 4:4
Boris Haufler – Christoph Drechsler ½-½
Niklaus Jung – Sacha Georges 1-0
Mark-Simon Hug – Hugo Kalbermatter ½-½
Christian Issler – Arthur Toenz 0-1
inan Deveci – Geoffrey Myers 1-0
Hans Haas – Heinz Vifian ½-½
Urs Weber FF 1-0
FF 0-0

SGM 2022 / 2. Bundesliga / 4. Runde / 26. Februar 2022
Nimzowitsch 1 - Triesen 4:4
Bäumer - Anistratov 0:1
Georges - Neuberger 0:1
Kalbermatter - Ferster 0:1
Drechsler - Krieger ½:½
Tönz - Natter 1:0
Myers - Guller 1:0
Alic - Frick 1:0
Egli - Schädler ½:½

This was a tightly fought 4-4 match. Our second half of the team saved the losses in the first half. Geoffrey got a nice win for his comeback to the team, this is good omen :-) Christoph suffered the consequences of a bold opening sacrifice and had to push his opponent to transform his attack into a rook endgame with a pawn up, which Christoph held easily. Miran got a convincing win, after what I think was heated theoretical debate. Sacha got in trouble quite late in the game, with complicated tactics from what I could see, which he didn't manage to escape in the end. Hugo also had to give the full point after getting a good position out of the opening, I didn't see what went wrong there.
I managed to push my opponent to be greedy in time pressure and get a plus pawn in an endgame where I ended up having very active pieces. His time scramble that dated from move 13 put too much pressure on him and he cracked right after entering the endgame. Urs turned and turned in a slightly superior endgame, but didn't manage to break his opponent's defense and took the draw. And finally, Lars succumbed to mating threats and endgame transformations in a game where he seemed to have had the upper hand most of the time. Still, in the end, not a bad match for us. Expected result was more like 5-3 for us, but at least we didn't give a full match point.
– Arthur Tönz –

SGM 2022 / 2. Bundesliga / 3. Runde / 19. Februar 2022
spielfrei

SGM 2022 / 2. Bundesliga / 2. Runde / 22. Januar 2022
Nimzowitsch 1 (2133) - SprengSchach 1 (2050) 4½ : 3½
Sacha Georges - Joshua Grob ½ : ½
Lars Bäumer - Manuel Sprenger 1 : 0
Martin Stehli - Dominik Bosshard 1 : 0
Hugo Kalbermatter - Patrick Kaufmann 0 : 1
Arthur Toenz - Maria Heinatz 0 : 1
Miran Alic - Samyo Bounlom 0 : 1
Thomas Heerd - N.N. 1 : 0 FF
Urs Martin Egli - N.N. 1 : 0 FF

Mannschaftsleiter: Arthur Tönz

SGM 2022 / 2. Bundesliga / 1. Runde / 8. Januar 2022
Nimzowitsch 1 – Bodan 1 0 : 0