Novy Bor and SuperChess Meet in Round 6 With 10/10 Each

Two teams are left on a perfect 10/10 match points in the open section of the European Club Cup in Budva, and they now play each other. After five rounds, Novy Bor and SuperChess Romania stayed perfect, setting up a direct clash in Thursday’s penultimate round.

Novy Bor edge Alkaloid

Fourth seeds Novy Bor beat second seeds Alkaloid 4-2, handing the North Macedonian side their first loss of the event. David Anton beat Aravindh Chithambaram, and Pentala Harikrishna beat Yu Yangyi after 103 moves to clinch the match.

The top boards were drawn. Nodirbek Yakubboev drew with Arjun Erigaisi, and Nils Grandelius and Jonas Buhl Bjerre also split the point.

The most dramatic draw was Wei Yi against Nihal Sarin. Wei had won all four of his earlier games in Budva. According to Chess.com, he called it “a crazy game” in which Nihal sacrificed a piece early and he “missed some great chances to win.”

Nihal then agreed a draw in a position that was winning for him, with his teammates already heading for the match win. Wei, short of time, said his opponent had played much better than he had. Nihal’s decision looks like pure match logic: a half point secured nothing more than the team already had in hand.

SuperChess roll on

The defending champions beat twelfth seeds SK K CERO INVEST Nitra 5½-½. Jorden van Foreest, Haik Martirosyan, Alexey Sarana, Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Daniel Dardha all won. Sarana is at 5/5.

Vasyl Ivanchuk held Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the event’s highest-rated player, to a draw with Black on board one. Fresh from a round-four loss for Abdusattorov, that half point was the only one Nitra took.

The chasing pack

Three teams sit on 9/10: top seeds Bayegan Pendik, fifth seeds Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai and sixth seeds Elektroprivreda. Pendik beat Aix-en-Provence 4½-1½, with Anish Giri and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus drawing after both lost on Tuesday.

Tuxera beat Riehen 5½-½. Elektroprivreda beat SK Dunajska Streda 4½-1½, though 16-year-old Czech GM Vaclav Finek did upset Pranav Venkatesh, who had beaten Giri a round earlier.

If the leaders draw, all three of those teams can catch them. Alkaloid, on 8, must recover against Elektroprivreda. Under the event’s format, match points decide the standings first, so a decisive result in round 6 would open a gap.

Women’s section

CE Gambit Bonnevoie beat second seeds Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica 2½-1½ and lead on 10/10. Aleksandra Maltsevskaya beat Teodora Injac on board four. Ushenina-Shuvalova, Kulon-Garifullina and Danielian-Salimova were drawn.

Monte-Carlo and Odlar Yurdu are two points back on 8. Monte-Carlo beat Velikova 4-0 with wins from Humpy Koneru, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Elisabeth Paehtz and Pia Cramling. Odlar Yurdu beat Crvena Zvezda 3-1.

Gambit Bonnevoie, who have now beaten the top three seeds, meet Odlar Yurdu in round 6. Eleven-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan beat Ena Cvitan with Black, her third win in Budva, and her live rating is above 2400. Her team still lost 2½-1½ to Napredak Zenica.

Finnish clubs

Aatos lost 2½-3½ to Hillerod Skakklub in round 5 and meet Zuid-Limburg next. Etela-Vantaan Shakki lost 2-4 to Multi Essence and face Blackthorne.

Gambiitti were beaten 0-6 by MTK Budapest 2 and play Hukukcu Fenerbahçeliler Satranc Kulubu in round 6.