Bayegan Pendik Wins the ECCC on Tiebreaks, Monte-Carlo Defends the Women's Title
By Cameron W. · Sat, 24 Oct 2026
Both European Club Cup titles in Budva, Montenegro, came down to tiebreaks. In the open section, top seed Bayegan Pendik of Turkey finished level with Novy Bor on 13 match points and took gold. In the women's, Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo tied Gambit Bonnevoie on 12 and held on to the title it won last year.
Both European Club Cup titles in Budva, Montenegro, came down to tiebreaks. In the open section, top seed Bayegan Pendik of Turkey finished level with Novy Bor on 13 match points and took gold, after a final-round win that turned on Anish Giri's victory over Nodirbek Abdusattorov. In the women's, Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo tied Gambit Bonnevoie on 12 and held on to the title it won last year.
Open section: Pendik edges Novy Bor
It was a closer finish than the Turkish team's early rounds suggested. Pendik, who won 6 matches and drew one, and Novy Bor had identical records, with the Czech club in silver on worse tiebreaks. Rishon LeZion A of Israel took bronze on 12 points. SuperChess Romania finished fourth on 11, with the best tiebreaks of the six teams on that score, and all six qualify for the new European Super League.
The deciding match came in the last round, when Pendik met SuperChess in a clash of co-leaders. Giri beat Abdusattorov on top board and Amin Tabatabaei beat Haik Martirosyan, which was enough for a 3.5-2.5 win even though Jorden van Foreest beat Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus for the Romanians. Novy Bor did its part too, beating Elektroprivreda with wins from Nihal Sarin, Pentala Harikrishna and David Navara, but could not catch Pendik.
The final day capped a week of swings. Round 4 saw Giri, Erdogmus and Abdusattorov all lose, and in Round 5 Novy Bor beat second seed Alkaloid 4-2, with Harikrishna's 103-move win over Yu Yangyi sealing it. Round 6 left three co-leaders on 11, after Pendik beat Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai and Novy Bor and SuperChess drew. Richard Pert was one of the stories of the week, winning his first six games before losing in the last round.
Women's section: Monte-Carlo on tiebreak
The women's event also ended with two teams level on 12, and Monte-Carlo's better tiebreaks gave it gold again. The final-round scores were comfortable for the winners, a 4-0 win over Davit Jojua's club. Gambit Bonnevoie beat Crvena Zvezda 2.5-1.5, with Anna Ushenina and Aleksandra Maltsevskaya winning and Elina Danielian losing to Adela Velikic. Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica took bronze on 10 by beating Odlar Yurdu 3.5-0.5, which settled the third-place tiebreak in its favor.
Bonnevoie came closest to a first title. The Luxembourg club won its first four matches, including a 2.5-1.5 win over Monte-Carlo in Round 4 and the same score over Sirmium in Round 5. Its perfect run ended in Round 6, when Odlar Yurdu won 2.5-1.5 on a decisive board-four win by Khanim Balajayeva. Monte-Carlo, meanwhile, beat SuperChess Romania 2.5-1.5 that round, with Humpy Koneru securing the deciding half point in a 95-move game.
The section's breakout player was 11-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan, who scored 5.5/7 for She Plays To Win and moved above 2400 on the live rating list. Her only loss came against Aleksandra Goryachkina.
Sources
- European Chess Club Cup 2026 Winners Crowned in Budva, Montenegro (ECU)
- 41st European Club Cup 2026 (The Week in Chess)
- European Club Cup: Three co-leaders in both sections going into final round (ChessBase)
- European Club Cup Round 5: Anton, Harikrishna Give Novy Bor Crucial Win Over Alkaloid (Chess.com)
- Abdusattorov, Giri, Erdogmus All Beaten In European Club Cup Round 4 (Chess.com)
- Bodhana Sivanandan (Wikipedia)
