Eleven Teams Perfect After Round 3, Beer Sheva Slip Against Dunajska Streda

After three rounds of the European Club Cup, eleven teams share first place in the open section on 6/6 match points. Every team seeded first through twelfth is in that group except one: tenth seeds Beer Sheva, who dropped a point on Monday.

The one slip

Beer Sheva were held 3-3 by Slovakia’s SK Dunajska Streda, the 27th seeds. On top board, 16-year-old Czech grandmaster Vaclav Finek, rated more than 100 Elo above Viktor Mikhalevski, won with White.

Dunajska Streda were outrated on the other five boards, yet Hungarian IM Aron Pasti beat Israeli GM Eytan Rosen on board two. Beer Sheva won boards four and six, and the other two games were drawn.

Favourites strengthen

The other top-ten seeds all won by at least 4-2. Top seeds Bayegan Pendik fielded Anish Giri and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus together for the first time, and both won, giving the team a third straight match win. Our report on Bayegan Pendik’s earlier escape after a top-board loss shows how close that run has been.

Erdogmus, the highest-rated 15-year-old of all time, is now world No. 15 on the live rating list after his debut win.

Defending champions SuperChess Romania, third seeds, brought in Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the highest-rated player in the field. He won on his debut.

Upsets on the boards

Richard Pert (2409) of Cheddleton Savills Caterling beat Jorden van Foreest (2716) of SuperChess, a deficit of more than 300 points. By the usual Elo expectation, that is a result the lower-rated player should get only rarely.

Alvar Alonso (2560) of Silla Integrant Col-lectius beat Nodirbek Yakubboev (2712) of Novy Bor. Pierre Laurent-Paoli (2550) of Marseille Echecs beat Pavel Eljanov (2664) of Ashdod.

Round 4 collisions

The headline pairing is Bayegan Pendik against SuperChess, which could put Giri opposite Abdusattorov on top board. Individual pairings had not been published when the report was written.

Gashimov top the table on tiebreaks with 17 game points; Bayegan Pendik and Alkaloid have 16½.

Women: two perfect teams meet

Only 22 teams play the women’s event, so the leaders are already colliding. Top seeds Monte-Carlo and fourth seeds Gambit Bonnevoie are the only teams on 6/6, and they meet in round 4.

Monte-Carlo beat second seeds Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica 2½-1½. Aleksandra Goryachkina and Elisabeth Paehtz won for them, while Stavroula Tsolakidou lost to Nurgyul Salimova, who played the 2024 Women’s Candidates.

Bonnevoie beat SuperChess Romania 3-1 in a match where all four games were decisive. Klaudia Kulon, Elina Danielian and Aleksandra Maltsevskaya won, and Nino Batsiashvili took SuperChess’s only point on board one.

Eleven-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan won again for She Plays To Win Lionesses A, beating Olga Badelka with Black in a 2-2 draw with Gambit ASEE. Next she likely faces SuperChess and the 2454-rated Batsiashvili.

Finnish clubs

Finland’s three teams had mixed days. Aatos lost 2-4 to SC Erlangen 48/88, Etela-Vantaan Shakki lost 1½-4½ to FC St. Pauli 1910, and Gambiitti beat S.S. Lazio Scacchi 5-1.

In round 4, Aatos face Cardiff A, Etela-Vantaan meet SK Weisse Dame Hamburg, and Gambiitti play Standard de Liege TAL.