European Club Cup 2025 R4: Aravindh Chithambaram plays awesome chess

Open: Alkaloid, Superchess and Novy Bor perfect, Women: Cercle d'échecs de Monte-Carlo emerges sole leader

Apart from GM Aravindh Chithambaram, GM Abhimanyu Puranik, GM Pentala Harikrishna and the reigning World Champion, GM D Gukesh won their respective games. In the Women's event, GM Divya Deshmukh won her game in 22 moves by trapping her opponent's queen. IM Vantika Agrawal drew against IM Miaoyi Lu.

Open: Bayegan Pendik chess sports - Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub: 3-3

GM Richard Rapport (2724) scored the sole win for his team Bayegan Pendik chess sports against GM Benjamin Gledura (2743). GM Pavel Eljanov (2657) won the lone game for Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai Sakk Klub against GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2742). The remaining four games ended in draws. GM Nihal Sarin (2700) drew against GM Andrei Volokitin (2617).

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Vugar Gashimov - Alkaloid: 2-4

GM Rauf Mamedov (2655) held World no.4, GM Arjun Erigaisi (2773) to a draw. GM Yangyi Yu (2720), GM Aravindh Chithambaram (2711) and GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2615) scored the wins for Alkaloid against World Junior 2024 champion, GM Kazybek Nogerbek (2543), GM Ahmad Ahmadzada (2523) and IM Vugar Manafov (2420) respectively.IM Read Samadov (2523) scored the sole win for Vugar Gashimov team against GM Velimir Ivic (2628).

Aravindh - Ahmad

Aravindh started his amazing attack with a bishop sacrifice 21.Bxh6! Black of course cannot take it as 21...gxh6 22.Qg4+ finishes the game in a hurry as the rook is ready to join the attack. 21...f5 22.Qh5 e4 23.Bxg7 Kxg7 24.Qg5+ Kf7 25.Rcxe4 Rg8 26.Qh5+ Rg6 27.Ng4!?

The f5-pawn being in a relative pin by the queen allows White to self-fork his pieces 27.Ng4!? while also bringing his final piece into the attack. 27...Rh8 28.Qxh8 fxe4 29.Rxe4 Qxd3 30.Re1 dealing with the back-rank issues. 30.Nh6+ was a better choice but that's alright, when White is attacking so well, it is not necessary to find the most accurate moves all the time. 30...Qd2?? 31.Qh7+ Kf8 32.Qh8+ Kf7 33.Qe8+ and White won the game in the next few moves.

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Novy Bor - Rishon Le Zion #1: 4.5-1.5

Novy Bor won their second consecutive match by scoring 4.5 points. This time they defeated Rishon Le Zion #1. GM Vincent Keymer (2755), GM Pentala Harikrishna (2697) and GM Nils Grandelius (2645) scored the wins for Novy Bor against GM Boris Gelfand (2636), GM Nitzan Steinberg (2554) and GM Yahli Sokolovsky (2539) respectively. The remaining three games ended in draws including GM Vidit Gujrathi (2716) against GM Maxim Rodshtein (2647).

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Kfar Saba - Superchess: 2-4

The reigning World Champion, GM D Gukesh (2752) won his second game in-a-row. This time, he defeated GM Max Warmerdam (2582) of Kfar Saba. GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2655) scored the only other win for SuperChess against IM Guy Levin (2466). The remaining four games ended in draws.

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Women: Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica - Cercle d'échecs de Monte-Carlo: 0.5-3.5

Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica got squashed by the top seed of the Women's tournament, Cercle d'échecs de Monte-Carlo 0.5-3.5. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (2541), GM Divya Deshmukh (2498) and IM Alina Kashlinskaya (2450) won their respective games. Former Women's World Champion, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (2469) conceded the sole draw against FIDE Women's World Cup 2023 runner-up, IM Nurgyul Salimova (2385). Divya made a short work of her opponent IM Leya Garifullina (2453) in 22 moves by trapping her opponent's queen.

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Tajfun SK Ljubljana - Turkish Airlines sports club: 2.5-1.5

GM Jiner Zhu (2569) scored the decisive victory for the defending champion, Tajfun SK Ljubljana against GM Anna Muzychuk (2525). The remaining three games ended in draws including IM Vantika Agrawal (2377) against IM Miaoyi Lu (2431).

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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 3 p.m. local time, 5:30 p.m. IST from 19th to 24th October 2025. The final round on 25th October starts 2 p.m. local time, 4:30 p.m. IST. 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 will be held in Rhodes, Greece.

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Round 4 Open results

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Standings after Round 4

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Round 5 pairings

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Round 4 Women results

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Standings after Round 4

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Round 5 pairings

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Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations

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