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December 20, 2025 · 3 min read · Elias Teubner
#chess #tournament #teamwork

Tandem-Schach Victory — Team TnT Takes It

We took it. Clean, decisive. Team TnT — Tischler and Teubner — won the December 2025 Tandem-Schach tournament and neither of us was surprised. We'd been building to this.

What is Tandem Chess?

Tandem chess (also called Bughouse) is played in teams of two. Each team plays on two boards simultaneously. When your partner captures a piece, you get that piece to place on your own board — like a strategic airdrop. It's fast, chaotic, and demands a different kind of thinking than normal chess. You're not just playing your own game — you're coordinating with your partner in real-time. Half chess, half warfare.

Team TnT

Michel Tischler and I make sense as a team. Michel is solid and positional — he builds suffocating structures, locks down positions, and never cracks. I play aggressively and create tactical chaos on my board, generating the pieces he needs exactly when he needs them. In tandem chess, that complementary dynamic is everything. We'd played together before and had each other's rhythm dialed in. By December 2025, we were operating like a machine.

The Tournament

The December 2025 Tandem-Schach event brought together teams from across the region. The format is fast — games are played at rapid or blitz time controls, so you need to think quickly and trust your partner.

Our strategy was calculated, not improvised: communicate constantly, keep the piece flow going, and stay composed when things get wild — because they always do. The critical moments weren't about brilliant individual moves. They were about knowing exactly when to hold a piece versus when to pass it. We had that dialed in from the opening round.

The Win

We won the tournament. Clean, decisive, in control the whole way. In a sport where you normally celebrate alone, winning alongside someone who sharpens your game hits differently. Michel and I had built our communication rhythm over previous events — December was when everything converged.

Why Teamwork Matters

I build software in teams every day. Tandem chess is the same dynamic compressed into 10-minute games: trust your partner, communicate under pressure, adapt when the situation changes. The best partnerships aren't about two strong individuals — they're about two people who make each other sharper. Team TnT proved that. And the story of TnT doesn't end here.

— Elias

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