European Club Cup 2025 breaks records

The European Chess Club Cup 2025 will be held in Rhodes, Greece, from 18 to 26 October 2025, at the Rodos Palace Conference Hall. The tournament is organized by the European Chess Union consists of two events: the 40th European Chess Club Cup (Open) and the 29th European Women’s Chess Club Cup, both organized by the European Chess Union (ECU).

ECC 2025 breaks participation record

The European Chess Club Cup 2025 in Rhodes has with an impressive turnout: 102 teams in the Open section and 20 teams in the Women’s section, making a total of record breaking 122 participating clubs. The event will gather nearly 900 players, including around 500 titled players, among them World Champions and other top grandmasters, ensuring one of the strongest and most prestigious editions in the tournament’s history.

Multiple players in the ECC hail from the 2700 club, including World Champion Gukesh D, Arjun Erigaisi, Yi Wei, Vincent Keymer, Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Vladimir Fedoseev, Yangyi Yu, Santosh Gujrathi Vidit, Chithambaram Vr. Aravindh, Richard Rapport, Pentala Harikrishna, Sarin Nihal, Parham Maghsoodloo.

The strongest women players are Zhu Jiner, Anna Muzychuk, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Nana Dzagnidze, Mariya Muzychuk, Divya Deshmukh, Yuliia Osmak, Leya Garifullina, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Nino Batsiashvili, Teodora Injac.

Top seeded clubs

Top seeded in the open section are Alkaloid with Arjun Erigaisi on board 1. His team members are Yi Wei, Yangyi Yu, Chithambaram Vr. Aravindh, Abhimanyu Puranik, Aleksandar Indjic, Velimir Ivic, and Toni Lazov, for an average rating of the team 2707.

Second seeded are BayeganPendik chess sports with Anish Giri, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Richard Rapport, Sarin Nihal, Kirill Alekseenko, Volodar Murzin, Mustafa Yilmaz, and Emre Can. Third in the list are SuperChess with Gukesh, Alexey Sarana, Parham Maghsoodloo, Jorden Van Foreest, Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Daniel Dardha, Constantin Lupulescu, and Ivan Sokolov.

The champions of 2024 Novy Bor, seeded fourth in the participants list, have Santosh Gujrathi Vidit on board 1 and he is accompanied by Pentala Harikrishna, Vincent Keymer, David Navara, Nils Grandelius, Jonas Buhl Bjerre, David Anton Guijarro.

Full list: European Chess Club Cup 2025 participants

In the Women section top seeded are Cercle d’échecs de Monte-Carlo with Aleksandra Goryachkina, Divya Deshmukh, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Alina Kashlinskaya, and Elisabeth Paehtz. They are followed by Turkish Airlines sports club with Anna Muzychuk, Mariya Muzychuk, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Mai Narva, and Miaoyi Lu.

The champions of last year Tajfun SK Ljubljana start as third seeded with Zhu Jiner, Nana Dzagnidze, Olga Badelka, Agrawal Vantika, and Laura Unuk.

Full list: European Women Club Cup 2025 participants

European Chess Club Cup 2025 regulations

The European Chess Club Cup 2025 will be played over seven rounds in the Swiss system, with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment from move one. Open teams may register six players and two reserves, while women’s teams consist of four players and one reserve. Participation is limited depending on whether a federation organizes a national team championship, but in most cases, four to five clubs per federation can take part.

The total prize fund is €40,000, with €26,000 for the Open section and €14,000 for the Women’s section. The Open winner will receive €8,000, while the Women’s winner takes home €5,500. In addition to team prizes, individual board prizes of €500 per board will also be awarded. Medals and trophies will go to the top teams and players.

All games and official activities will be hosted at the Rodos Palace Hotel, which also serves as the official accommodation. Transfers from Rhodes International Airport (RHO) to the hotel will be provided on the official arrival and departure dates.

The event is open to:

• Five clubs per federation in which a national team chess championship is organised or four clubs per federation in which no national team is organised. There is no restriction how the clubs will be selected by the National Federations
• Additional participation requests will be examined by the ECU Board
• There are no restrictions for participation in the European Women’s Chess Club Cup, and all the club members of the ECU Federations are allowed to participate.
• Clubs shall be registered through the National Chess Federations or directly if there is no objection from the National Chess Federation

The open teams shall be composed of six (6) players plus two (2) reserves all of whom must be
members of the club and were entitled to play for the club in the national team championship of the
federation, which was organized within one year before the start of the current European Club Cup.
However, players who are foreigners to the federation in which the national team championship is
organized, must have played at least two games in this championship.

Foreigners are defined as those which are either belonging to another federation in the FIDE Rating List valid at the start of the national team championship or have a permanent residence outside the
federation in which this national team championship is organized. National Players that competed in the last national team championship with another club are also subject to fees. If a participating club wants to include a national or foreign player in the open competition who does not fulfil the requirements of article F.1.2. (ECU rules) the club has to pay a reduced player’s license fee to
ECU according to the regulations of the event. All the other player’s license fees are waived for the year 2025.

The women teams shall be composed of four (4) players plus one (1) reserve player. There is no
restriction on the composition and all female player’s license fees are waived for 2025.