European Chess Club Cup 2010

They call it the chess version of the "European Champions League". For good reason. The European Chess Club Cup will field 24 players rated over 2700+ that will compete for their respective clubs comprised of players imported not just in Europe but from every corner of the planet, mostly from Asia and arguably no other tournament boast of the best selection of team anywhere else. No Filipinos yet have made it to play for a major chess club in Europe before like ECCC but other Asian countries like China and India are actively involved. Excerpts from Chessdom.com

24 players over 2700 ELO will participate in the 2010 European Chess Club Cup. Top rated participant is GM Levon Aronian (2783) who will play on board 1 for MIKA Yerevan. A few days are left before the start of the competition, for now a total of 135 GMs, 57 IMs, 47 FMs, and 243 titled players have signed up for the strongest club event of the year, equivalent to the Champions league in football.

The strongest team is the newly formed SOCAR Azerbaijan with average ELO of 2732. Five of their top boards are in the 2700 club - GM Mamedyarov, GM Grischuk, GM Shirov, GM Radjabov and GM Vachier-Lagrave. The team is completed by the ex world champion GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov and the Azeibarjan stars GM Mamedov and GM Safarli.