The European Chess Club Cup 2025 kicked off today in Rhodes, Greece.
The first round of the event was opened by the ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili, the Governor of the South Aegean Region Mr. Giorgos Hatzimarkos, and the President of the Greek Chess Fedeartion,Mr. Stathis Efstathopoulos, who made the first ceremonial moves in the games between FM Bart Gijswijt and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, GM Divya Deshmukh and IM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, and in the game between IM Stavroula Tsolakidou and WFM Anusha Subramanian.
The inaugurating round of the tournament featured super grandmasters in the line-up of their teams, including Arjun Erigaisi, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Richard Rapport, Wei Yi, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Jorden Van Foreest in the Open section, and Divya Deshmukh, Mariya Muzychuk, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Nana Dzagnidze in the Women’s event.
Most of the rating favourites cruised to convincing victories in the first round, in both Open and Women’s sections. In the Open section, top-seeded Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports scored a 5–1 win over HWP Haarlem, while Alkaloid defeated Dardania 5.5–0.5 on the second board. Defending champions Novy Bor made a strong start with a maximum 6–0 victory over Baerum Schakselskap.
The best-rated team of the Women’s section Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo defeated SK Zmaj with the score of 3.5-0.5, Turkish Airlines sports club scored 3-1 against She Plays to Win Lionesses #1, defending Champions Tajfun SK Ljubljana defeated De Stukkenjagers with crushing 4-0 score.
However, we could have seen a couple of major individual upsets! One of the Open section surprising results happened on the top board match in the game between the best-rated player of the tournament GM Arjun Erigaisi (Alkaloid) and IM Nderim Saraci (Dardania). The rating difference between the players was more than 300 ELO points, but IM Nderim Saraci held GM Arjun Erigaisi to a draw after a very solid game.
Among the other games which finished in surprising draws were the game between FM Richard Duijn (HWP Haarlem) and GM Kirill Alekseenko (BayeganPendik chess sports), the game of GM Kazybek Nogerbek (Vugar Gashimov) vs IM Richard Bates (Blackthorne), and the encounter of 12-year-old prodigy IM Faustino Oro (Turkish Airlines sports club) and CM Chopra Manmay (Kingston Kings).
The extraordinary upset of the Women’s tournament happened in the game between 10-year-old England’s rising chess star WFM Bodhana Sivanandan (She Plays to Win Lionesses) and former Women’s World Chess Champion GM Mariya Muzychuk (Turkish Airlines chess sports). Bodhana Sivananadan delivered a spectacular win, after finding great tactical motives in critical moments of the game.
England’s team She Plays to Win Lionesses had another surprising win, within their second team match against Crvena Zvezda chess club. Playing on the top board, WFM Mei-En Emmanuelle Hng defeated IM Alina Bivol, 200 points higher rated opponent!
The second round will bring interesting encounters, and the top board matches are as follows:
Open section top board matches:
1. BayeganPendik chess sports – SK Dunajska Streda
2. Ippotis Rhodes chess club – Alkaloid
3. Novy Bor – De Sprenger Echternach
Women’s section top board matches:
1. CE Gambit Bonnevoie – Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo
2. Turkish Airlines sports club – C’Chartres Echecs
3. Crvena Zvezda – Tajfun SK Ljubljana
Live games and live video broadcast with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic, WIM Sandra Djukic and WIM Lena Miladinovic can be followed through the ECU TV platform.
All results, pairings and rankings can be found here.