Gambit Bonnevoie · Budva 2026
European Women’s
Club Vice-Champions!
🥈 Six wins. Twelve match points. A place in history.
Some days become part of a club’s history. This is one of them. Gambit Bonnevoie’s women have won silver at the 2026 European Chess Club Cup in Budva, finishing level with the champions on 12 match points. In our 90th anniversary year, the dream of a European podium has become a magnificent reality.
Our team completed the campaign with a 2.5–1.5 victory over Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda in today’s seventh and final round. After yesterday’s narrow setback, Gambit found the resolve to win again when it mattered most: six victories in seven matches, and second place among Europe’s leading women’s clubs.
Cercle d’Échecs de Monte-Carlo retained the title on the tournament’s Sonneborn–Berger tie-break. Yet one result gives our silver a special lustre: Gambit beat those very champions 2.5–1.5 in their direct encounter. Seeded fourth, our women also defeated second seeds Sirmium Sremska Mitrovica and third seeds SuperChess Romania — all three teams ranked above them, in three successive rounds.
A team achievement, three individual medals
The team silver is accompanied by three individual board medals: Elina Danielian takes silver on board three, Klaudia Kulon bronze on board two, and Aleksandra Maltsevskaya bronze on board four. A remarkable reward for the quality and fighting spirit shown throughout the week.
Congratulations to Anna Ushenina, Klaudia Kulon, Elina Danielian, Aleksandra Maltsevskaya and Narmin Khalafova, and to the women’s team’s coach and captain, Petar Arnaudov. His contribution to this historic success deserves our warmest thanks alongside the players. This silver belongs to the whole Gambit family: the team, its coach and captain, and the members and supporters who believed in the journey.
This is a historic first for Luxembourg club chess, and the greatest European achievement in Gambit Bonnevoie’s history. A club built on friendship, passion and ambition now stands among Europe’s very best. Silver today gives us every reason to dream even bigger tomorrow. Vive Gambit Bonnevoie!
Explore the European silver honours and press archive for the full campaign, official records and coverage from the chess world.
Final report: The Week in Chess. Official final women’s standings.
Round 7 results: Open competition | Women’s competition
