15-year-old WFM Anastasiia Hnatyshyn (UKR, 2207) emerged as the sole leader of the European Women’s Chess Championship 2026 after five played rounds!
Anastasiia Hnatyshyn today defeated WGM Elmira Mirzoeva (ENG, 2265) to remain the only player in the event with a perfect score of 5/5 points. Hnatyshyn was playing with the Black pieces and seemed to be surprised by Mirzoeva’s opening preparation and aggressive 8.h4 approach. The young Ukrainian didn’t play accurately early on, allowing Elmira Mirzoeva to earn an advantage. However, Elmira didn’t find the correct approach in the late middlegame and made two consecutive mistakes with 20.Bf6?, followed by 21.g5?, which allowed Anastasiia to grab the initiative and get the edge. It was a dynamical position difficult for White, and the game eventually finished on the 31st move, setting Anastasiia Hnatyshyn on the top of the leaderboard.
Anastasiia Hnatyshyn continues her incredible run in the tournament, and it is the fourth consecutive upset by Hnatyshyn. After scoring against the lower-rated Aneta Kedelidze (GEO, 1676) in the opening round, she took down IM Marina Brunello (ITA, 2346) in round two, defeated IM Sabrina Vega Gutierrez (ESP, 2375) in the third round, emerged victorious against IM Mai Narva (EST, 2426) yesterday, and today, she won her fifth game in a row today!
Hnatyshyn is earning 114 rating points in the tournament, and is playing with a staggering tournament performance of 3018!
Two players are trailing by half a point: WIM Gulenay Aydin (TUR, 2204) and IM Oliwia Kiolbasa (POL, 2397).
WIM Gulenay Aydin scored an important win today against IM Nurgyul Salimova (BUL, 2404). The 20-year-old Turkish player won a pawn at an early stage of the game, and seemed well-prepared for the opening. Salimova had some compensation, but she made a mistake with 20…Qa5?, miscalculating the outcome of an exchange sacrifice. Aydin took a decisive advantage and played precisely until the end, not giving her opponent a chance to make a comeback. With a score of 4.5/5 points, she is earning 47.4 rating points.
Her impressive run opened with three consecutive wins against Alexandra Ediberidze (GEO, 1638), IM Sopiko Khukhashvili (GEO, 2329), and WGM Jana Schneider (GER, 2283), followed by a draw against IM Oliwia Kiolbasa (POL, 2397) in the fourth round, and today’s victory over Salimova.
After the game, Gulenay Aydin joined us in the live studio for an interview with our host WIM Sandra Djukic to analyze her game and share her tournament impressions.
IM Oliwia Kiolbasa (POL, 2397) was victorious with the White pieces against IM Gunay Mammadzada (AZE, 2374). A very solid game quickly transposed into an early endgame without Queens on the board, following trades further on in the game. But Mammadzada misplayed the endgame which seemed to be drawish despite two pawns down for the Black. Oliwia Kiolbasa didn’t miss the winning motif and converted into a win.
The tournament is reaching its midway point, and there are six more rounds left to be played. As many as 11 players score 4/5 points each, staying close in the race for the medals: WGM Elmira Mirzoeva (ENG, 2265), IM Sabrina Vega Gutierrez (ESP, 2375), IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva (AZE, 2450), FM Alexandra Zherebtsova (MNE, 2242), IM Eline Roebers (NED, 2389), IM Meri Arabidze (GEO, 2409), WGM Nadya Toncheva (BUL, 2320), WGM Anastasiya Rakhmangulova (UKR, 2328), IM Alina Bivol (SRB, 2361), IM Laura Unuk (SLO, 2289), and GM Anna Ushenina (UKR, 2420).
The sixth round starts tomorrow at 13:00 CEST (15:00 – local time), bringing interesting encounters on the top boards. Live video broadcast with commentaries by GM Valerian Gaprindashvili and WIM Sandra Djukic can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel.
The top-board pairings of the sixth round are:
All results, rankings and pairings can be found here.
Photo gallery of the tournament is available on the ECU Flickr page.