Indian Grandmasters performed exceptionally well at the 2025 European Club Chess Cup. Both Divya Deshmukh and Gukesh Dommaraju have created history, with each winning gold medals in both the individual and team events, resulting in four titles in total.
Gukesh won the gold in men’s individual and team title on board No 1 in the open section, whereas Deshmukh bagged the women’s individual and team gold on board No 2. Adding another gold medal to India’s tally was Nihal Sarin, who won his individual event.
Three teams with a maximum of 8 match points were at the top of the open section, which included Alkaloid from North Macedonia, SuperChess from Romania, of which Gukesh was a part, and Novy Bor from the Czech Republic. Women’s club team Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo, of which Deshmukh was a part, was the only team to top in the event.
D. Gukesh
Representing his Super Chess team, the reigning world champion started with the third round of the tournament held in Rhodes, Greece, on Saturday, October 25. Gukesh scored 4 out of five points, including two draws and three wins, and the team stole the title with a perfect score of 14/14.
This was Gukesh’s debut appearance in the European Chess Club Cup. On October 21, 2025, he got his first win of the tournament against GM Sergei Movsesian.
Divya Deshmukh
Playing on the second board, the Indian female GM, Deshmukh, was part of the Cercle d’échecs de Monte-Carlo team, which won the title with a near-perfect score of 13/14. She scored 4.5 points in six rounds and went on to break the 2500 rating record throughout the tournament.
2025 European Chess Club
The 40th European Club Cup and the 29th European Women’s Club Cup were held this weekend in Rhodes, Greece, from October 19 to 25, 2025. The event saw 122 teams from worldwide and with over 800 players competing under 102 clubs in the open section and 20 in women’s at the Rodos Palace Hotel.
Both tournaments followed a seven-round Swiss system with a duration of 90 minutes for 30 moves, an additional 30 minutes to finish, and another 30 minutes to move one.
The event featured some of the strongest clubs and world-class players in participation, including Arjun Erigaisi, Anish Giri, Gukesh, Vincent Keymer, and Wei Yi. Meanwhile, in the women’s competition, the line-up comprised top names like Alexandra Kosteniuk, Divya Deshmukh, Zhu Jiner, Aleksandra Goryachkina, and Anna Muzychuk.
