The Irish clubs will be fairly happy with their lot after the second round of the European Club Cup. Though none have yet to take a match scalp, they all sit near the top of the pile on 0 match points and the individual scalps are flowing in.

For Ennis, up against Viking of Iceland, Rory Quinn added to his IM victory in round 1 with a win against an FM in round 2 and is their top scorer. Bernd Thee and the Ukrainian IM Oleg Gubanov added draws in a respectable 4-2 defeat. Viking showcase all that's weird and wonderful about the ECC - they were on the top board in round 1 against Anand, Gukesh Nisipeanu, et al, and in round 2 found themselves prepping for a game against Ennis.

Gonzaga came closest of the three Irish teams to a scalp against the Luxembourg side Le Cavalier Differdange. David Murray and Carl Jackson had great winning chances in their games but went down in both, which meant that fifth-hour wins for Gordon Freeman and Colin Menzies - both also on 2/2 - were only enough to bring the score back to 3½-2½.

St Benildus lost by the same scoreline against Kosovan side Dardania. Lara Putar's win with black when 400+ points outrated was the clear highlight, but FM draws for Kavin Venkatesan and Brendan Lyons, plus a farcical 163-move draw for Kevin McHugh in which he incorrectly claimed a 50-move draw having pressed his clock so it was opponent's move, who quickly moved a pawn to void the claim. Kevin then sacced on the pawn to immediately reach R+N v R, which his opponent continued to grind away at even as his own captain suggested he take a draw and go to dinner. Finally, six moves short of a second 50-move claim and at close to six hours of play, he acknowledged the inevitable.

Today sees a big derby match as Gonzaga and Ennis go head-to-head, while St Benildus have a repeat of last year's round 3 tie when they again face En Passant of Holland.