Mednyi Vsadnik (Russia) and South Ural (Russia) are the winners of the European Club Cup and European Women’s Club Cup.

The 36th European Club Cup and the 25th European Club took place Struga, Ohrid Lake, North Macedonia from September 17-25 in two different venues: Hotel Drim (Women’s event) and Hotel Izgrev (Open event). The total prize fund of the events amounted to €44,000.

The open event attracted 38 competing in the 7-round Swiss tournament. The highest-rated team, Alkaloid lost two matches and finished just 8th, but other favourites and first of all, the eventual champion Mednyi Vsadnik from St-Petersburg (Russia) delivered on the promise. 

The team headed by Peter Svidler and Andrey Esipenko conceded just one team-point in the match with the runner-up AVE Novy Bor (Czech Republic) and deservedly took the first prize of €10,000 and the title, second in its history. AVE Novy Bor kept pace with the champions for most of the tournament distance, but a tie with Alkaloid in the penultimate round cost them a critical team point that separated them from the first place.

Vugar Gashimov was coming into the final round in the sixth position, but the victory over Alkaloid catapulted the Azerbaijani to third place in the final standings.

FIDE President Mr Arkady Dvorkovich, ECU President Mr Zurab Azmaiparashvili, ECU Vice President and FIDE Managing Director Mrs Dana Riezniece-Ozola, ECU Secretary-General Mr Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou, President of North Macedonia Chess Federation Mrs Aleksandra Gakidova took part in the awarding ceremony.

Final standings:

The women’s competition, held in a different format (an 8-team round-robin), was dominated by South Ural (Russia). The Russian team won all the matches and clinched the title and the first prize of €6,000 with a round to spare. Monte-Carlo (pictured above) finished second three points behind the champion, GRECO-Kyiv Chess Federation came third.

Final standings:

Photo: europechess.org and official website

Official website: europeanchessclubcup2021.com.mk/