Four rounds have been played at the 39th European Chess Club Cup and the 28th European Women’s Chess Club Cup, and only four teams co-lead the Open tournament while TAJFUN SK Ljubljana emerged as the sole leader of the Women’s competition.
Four teams co-leading in the Open section with perfect score of 8 match points are: Turkish Airlines, Alkaloid, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub, and Novy Bor Chess Club.
The top-seeded SuperChess in the Open tournament suffered an upset losing to 5th seeds Turkish Airlines. GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729, Turkish Airlines) defeated GM Gukesh D (2794, SuperChess) and secured his team a match win. GM Amin Tabatabaei (2702, Turkish Airlines) was victourious against GM Praggnanandhaa (2746, SuperChess), while GM Volodar Murzin (2648, Turkish Airlines) scored against GM Jorden Van Foreest (2697, SuperChess). The only player to score for SuperChess was GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2783, SuperChess) who had lots of luck in a completely lost position against GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2719, Turkish Airlines). Maghsoodloo was just a few moves away from the victory, but tragically went for an unsound Queen sacrifice and lost the game.
Alkaloid took a narrow 3.5-2.5 victory over TAJFUN SK Ljubljana. GM Chithambaram Aravindh (2698, Alkaloid) and GM Naranyan SL (2640, Alkaloid) defeated GM Ivan Saric (2673, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) and GM Ante Brkic (2626, TAJFUN SK LJubljana) respectively, while GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2654, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) scored for the Slovenian team. The other games finished in a draw including GM Arjun Erigaisi’s game against GM Alexandr Predke.
Novy Bor Chess Club won their match against Sentimento Ajka BSK thanks to GM Vincent Keymer’s (2721, Novy Bor Chess Club) win over GM Alexey Sarana (2717, Sentimento Ajka BSK) as the other five games finished in draws.
Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub was convincing against Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club despite lower rating. GM Pavel Eljanov (2672, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub) prevailed against GM Xiangzhi Bu (2690, Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club), GM Gledura Benjamin (2639, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub) scored against GM Anton Korobov, 2660), and GM Ihor Samunenkov (2533, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub) defeated GM Nijat Abasov (2619, Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club). GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2733, Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club) was victorious against GM Maksim Chigaev (2624, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub), but the other games finished in a draw and Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub scored a 4-2 victory.
TAJFUN SK Ljubljana emerged as the sole leader of the Women’s section after convincing 3.5-0.5 victory over Garuda Ajka BSK. GM Nana Dzagnidze (2513, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) scored against IM Bibisara Assaubayeva (2487, Garuda Ajka BSK), GM Zhu Jiner (2499, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) defeated IM Deshmukh Divya (2501, Garuda Ajka BSK), and IM Olga Badelka (2430, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) won against GM Bella Khotenashvili (2423, Garuda Ajka BSK). The game on the fourth board between WIM Zsoka Gaal (2398, Garuda Ajka BSK) and IM Laura Unuk (2304, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) finished in a draw.
SuperChess Club was victorious against top seeded Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo thanks to IM Dinara Wagner’s (2436, SuperChess) victory over GM Vaishali Rameshbabu (2487, Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo), while the other three games finished with draws.
Four teams tie for the second place in the Women’s event scoring 6 match points each: SuperChess Club, Garuda Ajka BSK, Crvena zvezda – Data Driven Lab and Napredak Zenica.
All results, rankings and standings can be found here.
Round 4 video recap:
The 5th round starts at 15:00 and live broadcast can be followed through the ECU TV platform. Live video broadcast is also available on the ECU YouTube channel with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and Dragana Nikolovska.