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The 38th edition of the European Chess Club Cup and the 27th European Club Cup for Women kick off on Sunday, 1st of October in Durres, Albania.

The event broke the participation record with 110 teams coming from 34 European federations. 84 teams will compete in the Open section, and 26 teams take part in the Womens competition. A total of 720 players including 150 grandmasters and more than 400 titled players will represent their clubs.

The events will be played in 7 rounds, swiss system, with 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 top seeds of the Open event are Superchess (Romania, Rating average 2711), Novy Bor (Czech Republic, Rating average 2665), Anieres Le Grand Echiquier (France, Rating average 2657), Offerspill Sjakkubb (Norway, Rating average 2650) and Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V. (Germany, Rating average 2649). The best rated players of the event are: GM Magnus Calrsen (Offerspill Sjakklubb), GM Viswanathan Anand (Superchess), GM Richard Rapport (Superchess), GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Schachclub Viernheim 1934 e.V.), GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Anieres Le Grand Echiquier), GM Vincent Keymer (Novy Bor).

Monte Carlo (Monaco, Rating average 2496) headlines the starting list of the Womens tournament. Superchess (Romania, Rating average 2454), Garuda Ajka BSK (Hungary, Rating average 2432), SP Gaz Ukraine (Ukraine, Rating average 2388) and Tajfun SK Ljubljana (Slovenia, Rating average 2364) are the next four top seeded teams. The best rated players of the event are GM Mariya Muzychuk (Monte Carlo), GM Anna Muzychuk (Monte Carlo), GM Bella Khotenashcili (Garuda Ajka BSK), GM Elisabeth Paehtz (Monte Carlo), and GM Nino Batsiashvili (Superchess).

The Opening ceremony of the event will be held on Saturday, 30th of September, in the evening. The tournament schedule can be seen below:

The total prize fund of the event is 45.000 EUR with 29.000 EUR reserved for the Open competition and 15.000 EUR reserved for the Womens tournament. In addition to team regular prizes and prizes for best individual players per boards, two individual prizes (1 in Open and 1 in Women) of 500 EUR, will be given to the players with the best performance from a Balkan Chess Federation member federation club. The playing venue of the tournament will be the official hotel of the ChampionshipsGrand Blue Fafa Resort/5-star (*****).

Live broadcast of the event will be available on the ECU YouTube channel with commentaries by WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni and GM David Howell.

Detailed information about the event can be found on the official website.

Facebook page of the tournament

Excerpt from:
European Open & Women's Chess Club Cups 2023 start in Durres ... - European Chess Union