Carlsen and Anand to play in European Club Cup

by André Schulz
9/29/2023 – The 2023 European Club Cup will be held at a resort in Durrës, Albania, from 30 September to 7 October. Magnus Carlsen will play for Norwegian club Offerspill, while Superchess from Romania have the highest rating average, with Vishy Anand and Richard Rapport playing on top boards. Over 80 teams have registered to participate in the open, while the women’s cup counts with 25 teams so far.

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With 84 clubs from 56 European federations, the 2023 European Club Cup has a massive number of participants. Surprisingly, a team from the United States is also taking part (Team USA), with Gata Kamsky on the first board.

The list of participants is headed by the Romanian team Superchess, which features Viswanathan Anand on the top board. Behind him are Romanian stars Richard Rapport, Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Kirill Shevchenko — Hungarian-born Rapport and Ukrainian-born Shevchenko have not been competing under the Romanian flag for that long. With Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, the team also has a returnee in its ranks. Nisipeanu was active on the top board for the German Chess Federation for a long time.

The second place in the starting rank is taken by the Czech squad Novy Bor. German grandmaster Vincent Keymer occupies the first board ahead of Czech top players David Navara and Ngyuen Thai Dai Van.

Third in this list are Asnieres from France, with Maxime Vachie-Lagrave on board one.

Then comes the Norwegian club Offerspill, founded by Magnus Carlsen. The former world champion himself occupies the first board. His compatriot Aryan Tari plays on second board.

The best representative from the Bundesliga is SC Viernheim. The team will travel with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Bassem Amin on the top boards. The best and only German in the team is Dennis Wagner, on board five.

Women’s Cup

The club cup for women’s teams will be held simultaneously. In this category, 25 teams have registered. The favourites to win the tournament are Monte Carlo, with Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, Sara Khadem, Elisbeth Paehtz and Pia Cramling.

The second-best German player Dinara Wagner will play for the Romanian club Superchess, which is second in the starting rank. Strong teams are also fielded by Garuda Aika from Hungary and Gaz Ukraine.

The German colours are represented by SG Solingen, who play with Machthild van Foreest (Netherlands) and Liwia Jarocka (Poland) on the top boards, and which also include Anmarie Muetsch and Luisa Bashylina.

The venue is the conference hall of the Grand Blue FAFA Hotel, a holiday resort in the seaside resort of Durrës on the Adriatic coast, about 40 km from the Albanian capital Tirana.

The tournaments are played as seven-round Swiss opens. The winner in the open tournament will receive 10,000 euros; the women’s tournament winner will receive 6,000 euros.

There are no Russian teams in these competitions, as the Russian Federation has now joined the Asian Chess Federation.

Top teams - Open

European Chess Club Cup 2023

...84 teams

Top teams - Women’s

European Chess Club Cup 2023

...25 teams

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.