GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri, and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus all lost in round four of the 2026 European Chess Club Cup, falling to GMs Aydin Suleymanli, Pranav Venkatesh, and Karthikeyan Murali respectively. While Abdusattorov was rescued by his SuperChess Romania teammates for a 4-2 victory, top-seed Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club could only scrape a 3-3 draw after the losses for Giri and Erdogmus.     

Meanwhile, CE Gambit Bonnevoie has taken the sole lead in the 2026 European Women's Chess Club Cup after defeating top seed Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo. GM Elina Danielian's fourth win in a row, against IM Stavroula Tsolakidou, was enough to clinch the match 2.5-1.5 after GM Koneru Humpy let a winning position slip against IM Klaudia Kulon. 

Round five is on Wednesday, October 21, starting at 8 a.m. ET / 14:00 CEST / 5:30 p.m. IST.

Open: Top Players Tumble

None of the matches at the top were easy in round four, with Giri and Erdogmus' Turkish team held to a draw by sixth-seed Elektroprivreda. Other notable results included 11th-seed Aix-en-Provence tying fifth-seed Tuxera Aquaprofit Nagykanizsai in a match where all games were decisive and GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi beat GM Pranesh M on top board.   

We're down to only four teams on a perfect score, with the surprise package the 12th-seeded SK K CERO INVEST Nitra. In round four the team overcame 10th-seed Beer Sheva Chess Club, with GM Vasyl Ivanchuk beating GM Victor Mikhalevski on top board.

Open Standings After Round 4 (Top 10)

It's not every day that three of the five highest-rated players lose in a team event, but that's what happened as we crossed the half-way mark of the European Club Cup with round four.

The biggest casualty was world number-five, Abdusattorov, who slipped below GM Wesley So to sixth on the live rating list after losing to Suleymanli. The 21-year-old Azerbaijan star chose a rare line on move 10 and then revealed his attacking intentions when he offered a piece sac to target the black king five moves later. Abdusattorov struggled and by move 30 had no entirely convincing way to stop the simple plan of Qh6 and Ng5, threatening checkmate.

Abdusattorov put up a great fight, however, and reached an endgame he might have held, but in the end the youngster pulled off an impressive win.

That did little damage to the defending champions, however, as GMs Jorden van Foreest, Alexey Sarana, and Daniel Dardha all won to claim a 4-2 win over the team named in honor of the late, great GM Vugar Gashimov.

Meanwhile, the top-seeded Bayegan Pendik Chess Sports Club couldn't brush aside their top two stars losing on top boards to the talented Indian duo of Pranav and Karthikeyan.

Giri was punished for ambitious play, starting with the French Defense and sacrificing a pawn and then a knight—even if that knight couldn't be taken without instant disaster for White. It was sound, or at least close to sound, but very tricky to play, and in the end Giri ended up two pawns down for no compensation.

Erdogmus had a Giuoco Piano gone wrong against Karthikeyan and found himself both a pawn down and with seconds on his clock. This time he couldn't work any magic in time trouble, but his fellow Turkish teen star GM Ediz Gurel scored a convincing win on bottom board, while GM Richard Rapport moved to 4/4 with a slow but sure win over an 11-year-old who may well become the youngest grandmaster in chess history, IM Roman Shogdzhiev.

The final move of that game was sweet.

In round five we get our first absolutely top clash, with second-seed Alkaloid, who needed a fourth win in a row for GM Wei Yi to scrape a 3.5-2.5 win over Ashdod Chess Club, taking on fourth-seed Novy Bor Chess Club—that may mean GM Arjun Erigaisi vs. GM Nodirbek Yakubboev on top board.

On paper Abdusattorov's SuperChess Romania gets the easier pairing, taking on the team led by Ivanchuk!   

Women: Gambit Bonnevoie Takes Sole Lead

The big story in the Women's European Club Cup was a defeat for the top seed, Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo.

CE Gambit Bonnevoie now has the sole lead with the only perfect score. There's a five-team chasing pack within two points, or one match win, including 18th-seed Velikova Chess Club, which has beaten or drawn higher-rated teams in three of the four rounds.  

Women's Standings After Round 4 (Top 10)

Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo is not just the defending champion but also by far the most successful team in Women's European Club Cup history.

In round four, however, the team met its match in the Luxembourg team of CE Gambit Bonnevoie.

The star was Danielian, who made it four wins in four rounds as she overcame Tsolakidou. 37.e5, played with a little over a minute on the clock, was the critical moment. Tsolakidou reacted badly, and there was no way back.

The match could easily have ended in a draw, but one natural move and what the computer was giving as a decisive advantage for Humpy against Kulon suddenly fizzled out.

Only the legendary GM Pia Cramling could save Monte-Carlo at the end, but if anyone got winning chances it was her opponent IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya.

Notable individual results, which couldn't avoid team defeat, included WGM Anna-Maja Kazarian taking down 100-point-higher-rated IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva, and, again, 11-year-old FM Bodhana Sivanandan showing heroics against GM Nino Batsiashvili. The English youngster won an exchange and was pressing almost all game, but Batsiashvili found the only escape at the end.

Second seed Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica, led by IM Polina Shuvalova, gets the chance to play and potentially catch the leaders in round five, while Monte-Carlo will look to bounce back against the underdogs of Velikova Chess Club.