Elm Mount sent a team to the European Chess Club championship for the first time ever in 2026. The tournament was held in Budva, on the Adriatic coast of Montenegro.
The team consisted of Alex Goss, Ciaran Quinn, Jack Herring, Harry Braine, Pat Reynolds and Kieran Barry. Thanks to Pat Reynolds who joined from Bray/Greystones to make up a 6-player team. Alex Goss was the team captain.
The team travelled to Budva by flying to Dubrovnik and then taking a bus (arranged by the organizers) to Budva. Both the flight and the bus were delayed and crossing the border between Croatia and Montenegro took a long time but we got there eventually. The event was held in the Slovenska Plaza hotel complex which also accommodated all the participants.
Elm Mount were seeded 105th of the 108 teams and finished in 104th place. The team’s only victory was against Morriston of Wales, but there were some excellent individual performances:-
- Harry Braine scored 6½/7 to register both a CM and an FM norm
- Jack Herring scored 4/7 to register a CM norm
The full results can be seen here and the official website is here.
The following links show the Elm Mount team in action and give a good view of the venue, with 108 teams in the open competition and 22 teams in the women’s event. It was a great experience to be playing in the same event as Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and many other top players.
The links below show the Elm Mount team playing and also show the full event, with over 700 games taking place simultaneously.
The photo below shows the Elm Mount contingent.
Hopefully Elm Mount will be back playing in the event next year!