European Club Cup: Gukesh, Giri and Keymer among star participants

Twelve players rated 2700+ make it to Rhodes

The 40^th European Chess Club Cup and the 29^th European Women’s Chess Club Cup open this weekend on the Greek island of Rhodes, bringing together a record 122 teams from across the continent. The event features 102 clubs in the open section and 20 in the women’s, totalling around 800 players competing over seven rounds.

Both tournaments follow a 7-round Swiss system with a time control of 90 minutes for 30 moves, followed by 30 additional minutes to finish the game, plus a 30-second increment from move one. The competitions are hosted at the Rodos Palace Hotel, with games beginning on 19 October at 15:00 local time.

The event was declared open at the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, a medieval fortress whose setting provided an evocative backdrop for the speeches and performances that marked the start of the event. Dignitaries attending included the President of the European Chess Union, Zurab Azmaiparashvili, the ECU Secretary General, Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou, and representatives of local and regional authorities.

Following welcoming remarks and the playing of the Greek and ECU anthems, the draw of colours was performed in suitably theatrical fashion: two knights of the palace carried chess pieces in their helmets, from which representatives of the top-seeded clubs drew lots. As a result, Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo (women’s) will begin with the white pieces on the top board, while Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports (open) will start with black.

Leading teams and contenders

The open section features a strong lineup headed by Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports from Türkiye, Alkaloid from North Macedonia, defending champions Novy Bor from the Czech Republic, SuperChess from Romania, and Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai from Hungary. Among the leading names in action are Arjun Erigaisi, Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer, Wei Yi and regining world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, all belonging to the world top ten.

In the women’s competition, Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo once again start as favourites, followed by Turkish Airlines Sports Club, defending champions Tajfun SK Ljubljana, SuperChess and Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica. The lineup includes top players such as Zhu Jiner, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Anna Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Divya Deshmukh, ensuring a high level of play throughout the event.

The defending champions – Novy Bor in the open and Tajfun SK Ljubljana in the women’s – face stiff competition from new challengers. With live commentary provided by Alojzije Jankovic, Sandra Djukic and Lena Miladinovic through ECU TV and YouTube, viewers can follow the games daily as the battle for the European club crown unfolds in Rhodes.

Top teams – Open

Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!

…102 teams

Top teams – Women’s

…20 teams

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