The 41st European Chess Club Cup and the 30th European Chess Club Cup for Women kicked off today in Budva, Montenegro!
The record-breaking number of 130 teams (108 in the Open section and 22 teams in the Women’s section) gathered today for the start of the first round of the events.
The first round of the event was inaugurated after the ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili and Founder and CEO of Superbet Mr. Sacha Dragic played the first ceremonial move in the Open section match between the teams SuperChess Romania and Akureyri Chess Club.
The ECU Vice President Mr. Jean Michel Rapaire and the Mayor of the Municipality of Budva Mr. Nikola Jovanovic made the first ceremonial move on the top-board match of the Women’s section between Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo and She Plays to Win Lionesses, opening the round in the Women’s event.
Simultaneously, the Mayor of the Municipality of Linares, Spain, Mrs. Maria Auxiliadora del Olmo Ruiz played the first ceremonial move in the match Oslo Schakselskap and Club Ajedrez Linares in the presence of the President of the Spanish Chess Federation Mr. Javier Ochoa De Echaguen.
The Chief Arbiter of the event Mr. Igor Vujacic then announced the official start of the round and the clocks started.
Most of the rating favourites in the first round sailed through the convincing victories in both sections, although we witnessed a few individual upsets. Some of the top-rated players were rested today by their captains, waiting for the tougher upcoming rounds to join their teams.
Top-board results of the Open section are shown below:
| 1 | Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club | Blackthorne | 6 | : | 0 |
| 2 | Sharks 4NCL | Alkaloid | 0 | : | 6 |
| 3 | SK Rockaden team 2 | Elektroprivreda *) | 0 | : | 6 |
| 4 | SuperChess Romania | Akureyri Chess Club | 5½ | : | ½ |
| 5 | Gambit Bonnevoie | Novy Bor Chess Club | 1 | : | 5 |
| 6 | Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai | Niksic | 6 | : | 0 |
| 7 | Ashdod chess club | Gambiet Opwijk | 5 | : | 1 |
| 8 | Woerden | Vugar Gashimov | 0 | : | 6 |
| 9 | Rishon LeZion A | Cercle des Echecs Dudelange | 5½ | : | ½ |
| 10 | Drejtesia | Beer Sheva Chess Club | 0 | : | 6 |
And the results of the Women’s event are shown down:
| 1 | Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo | She Plays To Win Lionesses A | 3½ | : | ½ |
| 2 | Klub Kolner Schachfreunde | Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica | 0 | : | 4 |
| 3 | SuperChess Romania | Gostivar | 4 | : | 0 |
| 4 | Davit Jojua’s chess club | CE Gambit Bonnevoie | ½ | : | 3½ |
| 5 | Odlar Yurdu | Wasa SK | 4 | : | 0 |
| 6 | SK Radnicki | Gambit ASEE | 0 | : | 4 |
| 7 | Crvena Zvezda | Velikova Chess Club | 2 | : | 2 |
| 8 | Oslo Schakselskap | Club Ajedrez Linares | ½ | : | 3½ |
| 9 | SG 1871 Loeberitz | She Plays To Win Lionesses B | 4 | : | 0 |
| 10 | Accademia Scacchistica Romana | GASCO Pardubice | 0 | : | 4 |
| 11 | Zenski sahovski klub NAPREDAK Zenica | Klaipeda | 4 | : | 0 |
All results, rankings and pairings can be found here.
The second round starts tomorrow at 14:00 CEST and live video broadcast with commentaries by GM Simon Williams, WIM Lena Govedarica, WIM Sandra Djukic and WCM Tallulah Roberts can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel.
Photos by ECU, Patricia Claros Aguilar and Montenegro Chess Federation
More photos and gallery by ECU/Mark Livshitz can be found here.