The first round of the 2025 European Team Chess Championship started on 5 October in Batumi, Georgia.

The event is played in 9 rounds, Swiss system, with Open and Women’s sections separately. 76 teams participate in the Championship, with 40 teams in Open section and 36 teams in Women’s competition, and very strong fields in both tournaments.

The Opening ceremony of the event took place shortly before the start of the first round.   The President of the Georgian Chess Federation Mr. Akaki Iashvili and the ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili addressed the players and captains and officially declared the event opened. The Chief Arbiter of the event Mr. Panagiotis Nikolopoulos briefly introduced the tournament rules and invited the players to start their games.

The rating favorites in the Open section are Germany (average rating of players 2681), Netherlands (average rating of players 2675), Hungary (average rating of players 2666) and in the Women’s Section are Georgia 1 (average rating of players 2451), Poland (average rating of players 2397) and Ukraine (average rating of players 2379).

The games of the next round will start at 15:00 in local time.

The results of the games and pairings are available here.

Official website of the Tournament – https://etcc2025.com/

Live video broadcast with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel or ECU TV platform.