Lead unchanged @ Candidates 2026 Cyprus

March 31, 2026
Peace reigned at the Mediterranean as all the eight games ended in draws at the FIDE Candidates 2026 in the 2nd round at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus. GMs Praggnanandhaa, Caruana & Sindarov led the pack with 1.5 points...
Peace reigned at the Mediterranean as all the eight games ended in draws at the FIDE Candidates 2026 in the 2nd round at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus. GMs Praggnanandhaa, Caruana & Sindarov led the pack with 1.5 points…
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Gukesh, Giri, Erigaisi, Keymer @ European Club Cup Rhodes

Posted on October 19, 2025 BY R.R. Vasudevan

An exciting week awaits chess aficionados in the spectacular Rhodes island in Greece where the 40th European Chess Club Cup runs from 19th to 25th October, 2025. The seven round team event is likely to be a curtain-raiser for the forthcoming FIDE World Cup in Goa, India. This glamour event organised by the European Chess Union & Greek Chess Federation carries a total prize fund of Euros 40,000. The Open section receives Euros 26,000 with Euros 14,000 going to the Women’s section.

BayeganPendik chess sports from Türkiye is the top seed with a rating average of ELO 2711. Fresh from his Grand Swiss triumph Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri will lead the charge for the top seeds. Following up Giri will be Mamedyarov, Rapport, Nihal, Alekseenko, Murzin, Yilmaz and Emre.

Alkaloid from Skopje, Macedonia with ELO 2701 is the second seed. Led by mercurial Indian Erigaisi Arjun, Alkaloid has Wei Yi, Yu Yangi, Aravindh, Puranik, Indjic, Ivic and Lazov in its ranks. Former European Club Cup champions Alkaloid will be the one of the key teams’ to watch.

Defending champion Novy Bor from Czech Republic is the third seed with a rating average of ELO 2683. Three times winner Novy Bor will be spear-headed by GMs Vidit, Harikrishna, Keymer, Navara, Grandelius, Bjerre and Guijarro. Greece has been a lucky ground from Novy Bor who won their first European Club title in Rhodes, 2013.

World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju will turn out for the fourth seed SuperChess led by master strategist GM Ivan Sokolov. The average rated ELO 2678 team include GMs Sarana, Maghsoodloo, van Foreest, Dec, Dardha, Lupulescu and the Captain Sokolov himself. The Bosnian-Dutch Grandmaster famously led the Uzbekistan team to the Gold medal in the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mamallapuram, Chennai, India.

Also running parallel will be the 29th European Club Cup for Women. Team Cercle d’échecs de Monte-Carlo are the top seeds with an ELO 2490 strength. The line-up of GMs Goryachkina, Divya, Kosteniuk, Paehtz and IM Kashlinskaya will be hard to beat.

788 players from 59 federations complete the grand line-up which boasts of 111 Grandmasters, 10 Woman Grandmasters, 137 International Masters and 14 Woman International Masters. The first round starts today by 3 PM local time.

Photo courtesy: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / TATA Steel Chess 2025

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