Novy Bor takes lead in European Chess Club Cup 2024, three teams leading in Women’s section

After five played rounds at the 39th European Chess Club Cup 2024, Novy Bor Chess Club emerged as the sole leader of the Open tournament, while three teams tie for the top of the 28th European Women’s Chess Club Cup.

After defeating Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub with a convincing 4.5-1.5 score, Novy Bor Chess Club remained the only team with the perfect score in the tournament. GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2726, Novy Bor Chess Club) was victorious against GM Pavel Eljanov (2672, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub), GM Harikrishna Pentala (2688, Novy Bor Chess Club) scored against GM Maksim Chigaev (2624, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub), GM Anton Guijarro David (2667, Novy Bor Chess Club) defeated GM Ihor Samunenkov (2533, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub) and GM Nguyen Thai Dai Van (2663, Novy Bor Chess Club) took a win against GM Antal Gergely (2545, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub).

The only player to score for Hungarian team was GM Benjamin Gledura (2639, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub) who beat GM David Navara (2683, Novy Bor Chess Club), while the game between GM Andrei Volokitin (2648, Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub) and GM Vincent Keymer (2721, Novy Bor Chess Club) finished in a draw.

Turkish Airlines and Alkaloid finished their match in a tie. GM Arjun Erigaisi (Alkaloid) was victorious against GM Dmitry Andreikin (2729, Turkish Airlines), crossing 2800 on live rating list! GM Yu Yangyi (2717, Alkaloid) defeated GM Amin Tabatabaei (2702, Turkish Airlines), but GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2719, Turkish Airlines) and GM Murzin Volodar (2648, Turkish Airlines) stroke back and scored for the Turkish team against GM Wei Yi (2763, Alkaloid) and GM Narayanan SL (2640, Alkaloid). With games on the fourth and the sixth board finishing in a draw, the match concluded with the final 3-3 score.

C’Chartres Echecs scored a narrow 3.5-2.5 match win over Rishon Le Zion A to join Alkaloid and Turkish Airlines in a tie for the second place, as the three teams score 9 match points each.

TAJFUN SK Ljubljana, SuperChess Club and Garuda Ajka BSK are the co-leaders of the Women’s competition with the score of 8 match points each.

SuperChess Club took two match points against TAJFUN SK Ljubljana thanks to IM Marsel Efroimski’s (2399, SuperChess) victory over IM Laura Unuk (2304, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) as the other three games finished in draws.

Garuda Ajka BSK defeated Crvena Zvezda Data Driven Lab with the same narrow 2.5-1.5 score. IM Divya Deshmukh (2501, Garuda Ajka BSK) won against WIM Adela Velikic (2253, Crvena Zvezda Data Driven Lab), and WIM Gaal Zsoka (2398, Garuda Ajka BSK) scored against WIM Jovana Srdanovic (2142, Crvena Zvezda Data Driven Lab). Despite IM Teodora Injac’s (2424, Garuda Ajka BSK) loss to WFM Anna Zhurova (2199, Crvena Zvezda Data Driven Lab), the Hungarian team scored a match win since the game on the top board finished in a draw.

All results, standings and pairings can be found here.

Round 5 video recap can be found on the ECU YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/rKhp_WR2Es0