European Club Cup 2026: Harikrishna and David Anton power Novy Bor to beat Alkaloid

Pentala Harikrishna and David Anton Guijarro’s wins ensured Novy Bor Chess Club scores a victory over Alkaloid in Round 5 of 41st European Club Cup 2026.

Karthikeyan Murali wins four in-a-row, SuperChess and Novy Bor are coleaders

SuperChess Romania and Novy Bor Chess Club are the only two teams at a perfect score of 10/10. Fourth seeded, Novy Bor Chess Club defeated second seed of the event, Alkaloid 4-2 to stay in the lead. The third seed, SuperChess Romania crushed SK K CERO Invest Nitra 5.5-0.5 to maintain their perfect score 10/10. Novy Bor and SuperChess will inevitably clash in the penultimate round.

GM Karthikeyan Murali scored his fourth win in-a-row. This time, he defeated IM Aron Pasti and ensured Elektroprivreda wins the match by 1.5-4.5 against SK Dunajska Streda.

In the Women’s event, CE Gambit Bonnevoie maintains their sole lead with a perfect score 10/10 after Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica went down 1.5-2.5 against them. The defending champion, Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo bounced back with a 0-4 whitewash win over Velikova Chess Club. GM Humpy Koneru got the better of WGM Nadya Toncheva. They are trailing by two points with Odlar Yurdu at 8/10 each.

Open: Novy Bor Chess Club – Alkaloid: 4-2

GM Arjun Erigaisi (Alkaloid, 2746) and GM Nihal Sarin (Novy Bor Chess Club, 2709) drew against GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (Novy Bor Chess Club, 2712) and GM Wei Yi (Alkaloid, 2758) respectively. The wins scored for Novy Bor was by GM Pentala Harikrishna (2648) and GM David Anton Guijarro (2650) against GM Yangyi Yu (2704) and GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2677) respectively.

Wei – Nihal

Final position after 34.Rd1

Nihal was winning in the final position against Wei, if the transmission was correct. Perhaps, he took the draw as the team was winning.

Harikrishna – Yangyi

Position after 73.Rf2

73…Nxd2 74.Rxd2 would have been the correct exchange for Black. Instead, he went for an incorrect one 73…Rf7 74.Rxf7+- Kxf7 75.Bc1 Kg6 76.h4 and the endgame expert had no trouble converting his advantage into a win.

Wei Yi – Nihal Sarin: 0.5-0.5 | Photo: ECU / Mark Livshitz

Interview with GM Nihal Sarin | Video: European Chess Union

Pentala Harikrishna scored a key victory over Yangyi Yu | Photo: ECU / Mark Livshitz

SK Dunajska Streda – Elektroprivreda: 1.5-4.5

The reigning World Junior champion, GM Pranav Venkatesh (2677) suffered his first loss of the event against GM Vaclav Finek (2587). GM Karthikeyan Murali (2647) scored his fourth win in-a-row at this event, this time against IM Aron Pasti (2439). IM Roman Shogdzhiev (2445), GM Nikita Petrov (2572) and GM Luka Draskovic (2451) were the other victors for Elektroprivreda.

GM Karthikeyan Murali won his fourth consecutive game | Photo: ECU / Mark Livshitz

Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai – Riehen: 5.5-0.5

GM Pranesh M (2677) drew against top Austrian GM Markus Ragger (2573). Pranesh’s remaining five teammates scored a win each, allowing Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai win the match against Riehen by 5.5-0.5.

Women: Velikova Chess Club – Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo: 0-4

GM Humpy Koneru (2518) bounced back with a win over WGM Nadya Toncheva (2378). Velikova Chess Club got whitewashed by the defending champion, 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 5 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 5 Open games

Replay Round 5 Women games

Round 5 Open results

Standings after Round 5

Round 6 pairings

Round 5 Women results

Standings after Round 5

Round 6 pairings

Links

European Chess Union: Official site, facebook, twitter, youtube and instagram

Tournament Regulations