European Chess Club Cups 2024 kicked off

The 39th European Chess Club Cup and the 28th European Women’s Chess Club Cup officially commenced yesterday in Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia with the first round.

The first round was inaugurated with the ceremonial moves made by the ECU Vice President Mr. Gunnar Bjornsson and the President of the Serbian Chess Federation Mr. Dragan Lazic. Mr. Dragan Lazic played the first move for Dommaraju Gukesh in the match between Superchess and Gambit Bonnevoie I, while the ECU Vice President Mr. Gunnar Bjornsson played the first move for Aleksandra Goryachkina in the match between Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo and SK Javes Modra.

The first round went smoothly for top seeded teams in both Open and Women’s sections. All the favourites won their matches, but a few individual upsets marked the round.

The biggest upset in the Open section happened in the game between IM Francois Godart (2377, Gambit Bonnevoie I) and GM Praggnanandhaa (2746, SuperChess), as Francois Godart prevailed in the game. Another major upset was seen in the match between Turkish Airlines and SV Erkenschwick, as 16-year-old Max Lutze (2148, SV Erkenschwick) defeated GM Vahap Sanal (2570, Turkish Airlines). Apart from surprising losses of renowned grandmasters, some of the lower rated players managed to take half a point in the games against much stronger opponents.

In the Women’s section, WIM Trisha Kanyamarala (2160, She Plays To Win Lionesses) delivered an upset after defeating IM Yuliia Osmak (2465, Gambit Bonnevoie). WIM Drljevic Ljija (2102, Napredak Zenica) drew against IM Dinara Wagner (2436, SuperChess), while 13-year-old Alannah Ashton (1876, She Plays to Win Lionesses) drew with WGM Elvira Berend (2244, Gambit Bonnevoie).

The second round starts at 15:00 CEST with Gukesh, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, Wei Yi, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Parham Maghsoodloo, Vincent Keymer and other top grandmasters in the field, with the following top matches pairings:

Aleksandra Goryachkina, Vaishali R, Assaubayeva Bibisara, Nana Dzagnidze, Divya Deshmukh, Sarasadat Khademalsharieh are among the players in the Women’s section and the top-board pairings are:

All results, pairings and standings can be found here.

Live broadcast of the games and live video broadcast with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and Dragana Nikolovska can be followed through the ECU TV platform or ECU YouTube channel.