Euro Club Cup: Leading teams stay perfect in Rhodes

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
10/20/2025 – The European Club Cup continued in Rhodes with the favourites showing no signs of slowing down. After two rounds, all leading teams in both the open and women's sections remain unbeaten, setting the stage for decisive clashes in the coming days. Alkaloid and Paul Keres #1 lead the open standings with strong individual performances, while in the women's competition, Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica's flawless 8/8 start keeps them ahead of Monte Carlo (pictured), Turkish Airlines, SuperChess and Tajfun Ljubljana. | Photo: Patricia Claros
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Big matches coming up

The second round of the European Club Cup in Rhodes confirmed the dominance of the top seeds, as all leading squads in both the open and women's sections maintained their perfect records and will enter the third round with 4/4 match points.

With the competition now moving into the more decisive middle phase, the coming rounds are expected to produce direct clashes among the main contenders for the title. In a seven-round Swiss event with 102 teams in the open section, every match carries significant weight, as even a single draw can make the difference in the fight for first place.

  • Full technical information on Chess-Results: Open | Women's
  • All available games on Live.ChessBase.com: Open | Women's

After two rounds, 21 teams stand on 4/4 match points in the open competition. Among them, second seeds Alkaloid from North Macedonia and 24th seeds Paul Keres #1 from the Netherlands have been particularly efficient, topping the list on individual scores with 11½ out of 12 possible board points.

Alkaloid, led by Arjun Erigaisi, Wei Yi and Yu Yangyi, have lived up to their reputation as one of the pre-tournament favourites. Paul Keres #1, meanwhile, have impressed by combining disciplined team play with strong performances from their top boards, including Hugo Ten Hertog, Lars Ootes and Demre Kerigan.

Arjun Erigaisi

Alkaloid's Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: Patricia Claros

In the women's section, five teams remain on 4/4 match points. The early leaders are Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica from Serbia, who have scored a perfect 8/8 on individual boards after two rounds. The Serbian team is led by current European women's champion Teodora Injac, Leya Garifullina and 2024 Candidates participant Nurgyul Salimova, and will face CE Gambit Bonnevoie from the Netherlands in round three.

Elsewhere, the top seeds Cercle d’Echecs Monte Carlo will meet defending champions Tajfun SK Ljubljana, while Turkish Airlines take on SuperChess in another key encounter between teams with perfect scores.

Nurgyul Salimova

Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica's Nurgyul Salimova | Photo: Patricia Claros

Parham Maghsoodloo (SuperChess) 1 - 0 Benedict Krause (FC St. Pauli)

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Standings after round 2 - Open

Rk. Team TB1
1 Alkaloid 4
2 Paul Keres #1 4
3 Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub 4
Rishon Le Zion #1 4
5 SuperChess 4
6 Novy Bor 4
7 SV Werder Bremen 4
8 Turkish Airlines sports club 4
9 SG Riehen 4
10 Vugar Gashimov 4
11 Kavala 4
12 Kfar Saba 4
13 Beer Sheva 4
14 BayeganPendik chess sports 4
15 Vilnius MRU-ROSK Consulting 4

...102 teams

Games - Open

Standings after round 2 - Women's

Rk. Team TB1
1 Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica 4
2 Turkish Airlines sports club 4
3 Tajfun SK Ljubljana 4
4 Cercle d'échecs de Monte-Carlo 4
SuperChess 4
6 CE Gambit Bonnevoie 2
7 She plays to win Lionesses #1 2
8 Crvena Zvezda 2
9 MSK Centar ASEE 2
10 Gostivar club 2
11 SK Zmaj 2
12 Wasa SK 2
ISL Federation 2
14 C'Chartres échecs 2
15 De Stukkenjagers 2

...20 teams

Games - Women's

Links

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Daniel Naroditsky (9 November 1995 – 19 October 2025) >>
Topics: European Club Cup 2025, Parham Maghsoodloo
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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Euro Club Cup: Favourites start with dominating wins

10/20/2025 – The opening round of the European Club Cup in Rhodes went largely as expected, with all top teams in both the open and women’s sections winning their matches comfortably. The day’s most notable result came in the women’s event, where 10-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan of Lionesses #1 defeated Mariya Muzychuk of Turkish Airlines in a sharp Sicilian. BayeganPendik, the top seeds in the open section, began with a 5–1 win over HWP Haarlem. | Photo: Patricia Claros
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