Novy Bor remains in lead of European Club Cup, two teams tie for the top in Women’s section

he penultimate round of the European Chess Club Cup 2024 concluded yesterday, and Novy Bor Chess Club remained in the sole lead of the 39th European Chess Club Cup, while TAJFUN SK Ljubljana and SuperChess tie for the top of the 28th European Women’s Chess Club Cup.

Novy Bor Chess Club is on their way to win the 9th medal at the European Chess Club Cup after 2 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze medal won in the past. The match against 2nd seeded Alkaloid finished in a tie yesterday, with the final score of 3-3. The first four boards in the match finished in a draw, while GM Aleksandar Indjic (2620, Alkaloid) defeated GM David Anton Guijarro (2667, Novy Bor Chess Club), but GM Nguyen Thai Dai Van (2663, Novy Bor Chess Club) scored for the Czech team, winning against GM Velimir Ivic (2610, Alkaloid).

With 11 match points, Novy Bor Chess Club is just one match point ahead of six teams who tie for second scoring 10 match points each: SuperChess, Turkish Airlines, Alkaloid, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana, Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club and C’Chartres Echecs.

TAJFUN SK Ljubljana scored a match win against Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica. GM Nana Dzagnidze (2513, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) beat IM Gunay Mammadzada (2426, Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica) and GM Jiner Zhu (2499, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) was victorious against IM Nurgyul Salimova (2405, Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica). The game between WGM Govhar Beydullayeva (2402, Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica) and IM Laura Unuk (2304, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) finished in a draw, while the game between IM Leya Garifullina (2438, Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica) and IM Olga Badelka (2430, TAJFUN SK Ljubljana) was declared by the Chief Arbiter with 0-0 result because the players concluded on a draw before move 30, without a proper claim involving an arbiter. The players were forfeited according to art. B3.2 of the ECU rulebook.

SuperChess Club took a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory over Crvena Zvezda Data Driven Lab as IM Dinara Wagner (2436, SuperChess) and IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (2383, SuperChess) scored for the Romanian team. WFM Anna Zhurova’s (2199, Crvena Zvezda Data Driven Lab) victory over IM Irina Bulmaga (2402, SuperChess) wasn’t enough for the Serbian team, as the game on the first board between GM Nino Batsiashvili (2467, SuperChess) and IM Alina Bivol (2345, Crvena Zvezda Data Driven Lab) finished in a draw.

Yesterday’s top board match of the Women’s event between Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo and Garuda Ajka BSK finished in a tie with 2-2 score, as all four games finished in draws after long and intense fights. With yesterday’s draw, Garuda Ajka BSK is currently third with 9 match points, and Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo follows with 8 match points.

All results, rankings and pairings can be found here.

The final round starts tomorrow at 14:00 CET and will determine the Winners and Medalists. Live broadcast can be followed through the ECU TV platform and Live video broadcast with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and Dragana Nikolovska is available at the ECU YouTube channel.