European Club Cup 2026: Pranav beats Giri, Karthikeyan upsets Yagiz
Pranav Venkatesh and Karthikeyan Murali scored two big wins over the World no.11 and 17 respectively in Round 4 of 41st European Club Cup 2026.
Alkaloid and Novy Bor in a four-way lead; Arjun draws, Nihal and Harikrishna score
Alkaloid, SuperChess Romania, Novy Bor Chess Club and SK K CERO INVEST Nitra are at a perfect score 8/8 in the Open event. Arjun Erigaisi drew, Nihal Sarin and Pentala Harikrishna won their games, Pranesh suffered his first loss. The biggest of the round was indubitably by Pranav Venkatesh and Karthikeyan Murali over Anish Giri and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus respectively. Those two wins ensured their team Elektroprivreda avoid a defeat and draw the match against Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club.
In the Women’s event, GM Humpy Koneru missed a winning opportunity against IM Klaudia Kulon. Humpy’s team, the defending champion, Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo went down against CE Gambit Bonnevoie by 2.5-1.5. Thus, they have taken sole lead with a perfect score 8/8.
Open: Alkaloid – Ashdod Chess Club: 3.5-2.5
GM Arjun Erigaisi (2746) drew against GM Pavel Eljanov (2664). GM Wei Yi (2758), GM Yangyi Yu and GM Velimir Ivic (2581) scored a win each against IM Benny Aizenberg (2470), GM Ilia Smirin (2560) and IM Or Globus (2424) respectively. GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2622) and GM Aleksandar Indjic (2606) suffered losses against GM Arthur Kogan (2464) and GM Israel Caspi (2457) respectively.
Alkaloid – Ashdod Chess Club: 3.5-2.5 | Photo: ECU / Mark Livshitz
Elektroprivreda – Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club: 3-3
The reigning World Junior champion, GM Pranav Venkatesh (2677) and GM Karthikeyan Murali (2647) scored the key victories against the World no.11, GM Anish Giri (2752) and World no.17, GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (2731) respectively. GM Evgeny Romanov (2560) and GM Denis Kadric (2528) drew against GM M Amin Tabatabaei (2728) and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2710) respectively. IM Roman Shogdzhiev (2445) and GM Nikita Petrov (2572) suffered losses against GM Richard Rapport (2711) and GM Ediz Gurel (2642) respectively.
Pranav – Giri
Position after 28…Kh8??
After blundering 25…Rc2?? earlier, GM Anish Giri (2752) erred against 28…Kh8?? GM Pranav Venkatesh (2677) seized his opportunity 29.Qd6+- Bxd4 30.Rxd4 Rb1+ 31.Rd1 Rxd1+ 32.Qxd1 Bc6 33.Qd6 Bd7 Black could not take on f3 as 33…Bxf3 34.Bxe6 and White’s e5-passed pawn would have accelerated Black’s demise. 34.Rd3 Bc8 35.Rd2 Qxf3 36.Bxe6 and White won the game in ten more moves.
Yagiz – Karthikeyan
Position after 26…fxe6
GM Karthikeyan Murali defeated the World no.1, GM Magnus Carlsen three years and two days ago at Qatar Masters. Karthikeyan thrives in imbalanced positions. GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (2731) is perhaps too young to be familiar with Karthikeyan’s forte. 27.N5h4?? played into Karthikeyan’s hand. 27…Nxh4-+ 28.Nxh4 a3 29.b4 Rxb4 and it was just a matter of time before Black won the game. What a way to score a hat-trick for Karthikeyan.
Reigning World Junior champion -GM Pranav Venkatesh scored a fantastic victory over the World no.11 – GM Anish Giri | Photo: ECU / Mark Livshitz
GM Karthikeyan Murali scored a hat-trick by defeating GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | Photo: ECU / Mark Livshitz
Novy Bor Chess Club – Rishon LeZion A: 4.5-1.5
GM Nihal Sarin (2709) and GM Pentala Harikrishna (2648) scored their second win of the event against GM Maxim Rodshtein (2582) and GM Yahli Sokolovsky (2542) respectively. GM Nils Grandelius (2603) scored the only other win to power Novy Bor Chess Club to a 4.5-1.5 win over Rishon LeZion A.
Novy Bor Chess Club – Rishon LeZion A: 4.5-1.5 | Photo: ECU / Mark Livshitz
Women: CE Gambit Bonnevoie – Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo: 2.5-1.5
GM Humpy Koneru (2518) missed a winning chance against IM Klaudia Kulon (2378). The game eventually ended in a draw. GM Elina Danielian (2385) scored the key win over IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (2451) which ensured CM Gambit Bonnevoie winning the match by 2.5-1.5 against Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo.
CE Gambit Bonnevoie – Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo: 2.5-1.5 | Photo: ECU / Mark Livshitz
Replay live stream
Replay Round 4 live commentary by GM Simon Williams, WIM Lena Govedarica, WIM Sandra Djukic and WCM Lula Roberts | Video: European Chess Union
Prizes
The total prize fund is €40000, €26000 in Open and €14000 in Women. The top three prizes in Open are – €8000, €6000 and €4000. For Women, they are – €5500, €3500 and €2000. Individual board prizes on each board €500.
Schedule
Every day round starts at 2 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST from 17th to 23rd October 2026. The seven-round Swiss system tournament has a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. The tournament is taking place in Budva, Montenegro.
Replay Round 4 Open games
Replay Round 4 Women games
Links
European Chess Union: Official site, facebook, twitter, youtube and instagram
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