Eleven teams are locked at the top of the open section after three rounds at the European Club Cup. Beer Sheva, seeded tenth, is the only top-twelve team to have surrendered any points so far. The fourth round delivers what everyone's waiting for: direct clashes between the favorites.
SuperChess takes on Bayegan Pendik in a matchup that could feature Anish Giri versus Nodirbek Abdusattorov on the top board. That's the kind of encounter that separates contenders from pretenders. One of these teams will break ranks with the pack.
The women's competition is already shaping up differently. Monte-Carlo and Gambit Bonnevoie are the only unbeaten teams left, and they meet Tuesday. One of them will taste defeat. The other inherits the sole claim to perfection heading into the later rounds.
This is where the European Club Cup gets interesting. The group phase has thinned the field and cleaned out the weaker entries. Now the remaining contenders start eliminating each other. The open section's logjam at the top won't hold much longer. Round four will do real damage to several tournaments hopes.