European Club Cup Rounds 3 and 4: Abdusattorov, Giri and Erdogmus All Lose
By Cameron W. · Wed, 21 Oct 2026
The European Chess Club Cup in Budva, Montenegro reached its halfway point with upsets in both sections. In the open, Round 3 belonged to the favorites, with 15-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus climbing to world No. 15, before Round 4 saw Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri and Erdogmus all lose. In the women's, CE Gambit Bonnevoie beat both of the top two seeds in a row and leads alone on a perfect 8 match points.
The European Chess Club Cup in Budva, Montenegro reached its halfway point with upsets in both sections. In the open, Round 3 belonged to the favorites, with 15-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus climbing to world No. 15, before Round 4 saw Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri and Erdogmus all lose. In the women's, CE Gambit Bonnevoie beat both of the top two seeds in a row and leads alone on a perfect 8 match points.
Open section, Round 3: the stars arrive
Eleven teams were on 6/6 after Round 3, according to the European Chess Union. Giri and Erdogmus, who had sat out the first two rounds for top seed Bayegan Pendik, made their debuts and both won. Giri outplayed Sergei Movsesian. Erdogmus beat Zbynek Hracek in a time-trouble battle, making his 32nd move with six seconds left, and passed Liem Le and Leinier Dominguez on the live list. Abdusattorov also won on debut for defending champions SuperChess Romania, beating Balazs Csonka.
The biggest shock was on SuperChess's second board, where Jorden van Foreest, rated 2716, lost to the 2409-rated Richard Pert after the blunder 24...Rd6??. His team won anyway. Elsewhere, 27th seed SK Dunajska Streda drew with 10th seed Beer Sheva, where 16-year-old Vaclav Finek beat Victor Mikhalevski on top board, and Alvar Alonso beat Nodirbek Yakubboev.
Open section, Round 4: top boards tumble
Abdusattorov lost to Aydin Suleymanli, which dropped him below Wesley So to sixth on the live rating list. His teammates rescued the match: van Foreest, Alexey Sarana and Daniel Dardha all won in a 4-2 victory over Vugar Gashimov. Top seed Bayegan Pendik was less fortunate, drawing 3-3 with Elektroprivreda after Giri lost to Pranav Venkatesh and Erdogmus lost to Karthikeyan Murali. Giri ended two pawns down for nothing after sacrificing a pawn and a knight in a French Defense. Erdogmus was a pawn down in a Giuoco Piano with seconds left, and for once could not escape in time trouble. Ediz Gurel won on the bottom board for the Turkish team.
Four teams are perfect: second seed Alkaloid, SuperChess Romania, Novy Bor and 12th seed SK K CERO INVEST Nitra, whose top board Vasyl Ivanchuk beat Mikhalevski. Alkaloid needed Wei Yi's fourth straight win to edge Ashdod 3.5-2.5. Richard Rapport moved to 4/4, beating 11-year-old IM Roman Shogdzhiev. In Round 5, Alkaloid meets Novy Bor, possibly Arjun Erigaisi against Yakubboev on top board, while SuperChess faces Nitra.
Women's section: Danielian leads Bonnevoie past the favorites
In Round 3, the top four seeds met head-on. Top seed Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo beat second seed Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica 2.5-1.5 behind wins by Aleksandra Goryachkina and Elisabeth Paehtz, while Koneru Humpy drew Leya Garifullina in 23 moves. Fourth seed Bonnevoie beat third seed SuperChess Romania 3-1, with Elina Danielian winning after Irina Bulmaga let a winning position slip. That left only those two teams perfect.
In Round 4 they met, and Bonnevoie won 2.5-1.5. Danielian made it four wins from four by beating Stavroula Tsolakidou after 37.e5. Chess.com says Humpy had a decisive advantage against Klaudia Kulon before one natural move undid it, and Pia Cramling held on at the end. Bonnevoie leads on 8, with Monte-Carlo, Crvena Zvezda, Sirmium, 18th seed Velikova Chess Club and Odlar Yurdu on 6. Sirmium has a chance to catch the leaders in Round 5, while Monte-Carlo faces Velikova.
Eleven-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan has been the section's story. She won again in Round 3 against Olga Badelka and had an exchange up against Nino Batsiashvili in Round 4 before Batsiashvili found the only escape. She is now above 2400 on the women's live rating list, one of the requirements for the IM title.
What comes next
The seven-round event runs through October 23. Round 5 starts today, October 21, at 8 a.m. ET (14:00 CEST).
