SK Alkaloid holds perfect score after tough win over Ashdod

SK Alkaloid remained among four teams with a perfect 8/8 match score after the fourth round of the European Club Cup, but the Macedonian champions were pushed hard in a tense duel with seventh-seeded Ashdod (Israel) on 21.10.2026.

Alkaloid passed a difficult test thanks to wins on key boards

The international lineup of Alkaloid faced an early setback when Aleksandar Indjic on board five made a mistake that led to an unavoidable loss despite holding the white pieces. The match was ultimately decided in Alkaloid's favour by strong results on the top boards and a decisive win on board six.

“Hard-fought victory in a match with dramatic moments, in which the opponent had the early advantage. Aleksandar Indjic on the fifth board started with a mistake in the early part of the game, because of which defeat was inevitable, although he had the white pieces and was one of the hopes for a secure win. In contrast, on the first three boards we scored 2.5 points: Erigaisi troubled Eljanov, but the experienced Ukrainian managed to secure a draw, while Wei and Yu recorded fantastic wins on the second and third boards, in complicated positions and with top-level play. Due to Puranik's defeat on the fourth board, the match was decided by the lively Ivic with a victory on the sixth board. These first individual losses indicated that we are already entering the tournament's final phase, where every game has extraordinary importance on the path to winning a new medal, which also imposes the need to strengthen play on the lower boards,” said GM Vlatko Bogdanovski.

The return of Yangyi Yu to the lineup after an initial absence for health reasons is expected to provide stability and be a cornerstone in tight matches like this one.

Elsewhere, top-rated Bayegan Pendik (Turkey) were held to a 3:3 draw by Montenegro's Elektroprivreda, while the 5th seeds Nagykanizsa (Hungary) also drew 3:3 with Ex en Provence (France). Romanian SuperChess and Czech Novi Bor won tough matches against Azerbaijani and Israeli clubs respectively but lost their opening perfection.

Biggest surprise of the round came from Slovakia’s SK Cero Invest Nitra, who beat Israeli Be'er Sheva and set up a meeting with SuperChess, while Alkaloid will face multiple European champion Novi Bor — the same opponent against whom Alkaloid finished second last year after their mutual encounter.

The second Macedonian representative, SK Multi Esens (ranked 43rd by average rating), met 19th-seeded Rokaden (Sweden) and fell 2:4. “The Swedish team proved to be an extremely tough opponent and did not give us a chance to hope for a sensation. Risteski and Panchevski managed to withstand the pressure on the first two boards, while on the third and fourth Lazov and Jordanov, in extremely sharp positions, did not manage to do the same, so they lost the games. Eftovski on the fifth board started from a difficult position, but continued fighting and managed to draw. Perhaps the only chance for victory appeared on the sixth board where Zhezhovska had a solid position, but insufficient precision at the end led to another split point,” reported GM Trajko Nedev.

In round five SK Multi Esens will face Finnish club Etela Vantaan, ranked 71st by the tournament's starting average rating.

Photo: press material from the event