On Tuesday August 18th, in the Hotel Energetic in Roznov pod Radhostem in the Czech Republic, the 24th European Union Youth Chess Championship U8, U10, U12 and U14 will start.
European Union Youth Chess Championship 2026 under the patronage of the European Chess Union is organized again by Sachova skola Svetla nad Sazavou in cooperation with the Czech Chess Federation and continue in previous successful years. The event is supported by the Zlin Region, City Roznov pod Radhostem and Hotel Energetic.
Boys and girls in each category play the same tournament. Eventually boys and girls will be evaluated separately. The rate of play is 90 min for the whole game + 30 sec increment for each move played. There will be 9 rounds, one round every day. This prestigious event attracted many chess players. This year’s participation is record-breaking. 129 male and female players from 19 national ECU federations are going to participate in the championship!
In the U8 category, we have 27 players on the starting list, including 14 girls, in U10 there are 38 players, including 14 girls, in U12 there are 24 players, including 11 girls, and in the oldest category we will welcome 40 players, including 16 girls. The highest-seeded player in the 24th European Union Youth Chess Championship 2026 is Boyd Leenen (2232) from Netherlands. The highest-seeded girl is coming from Poland –Olga Debowska (1977). In category U12 is the highest-seeded player Sergejs Filipovs (2044) from Latvia, in the category U10 Daniel Sava (1733) from Romania and in the category U8 Greta Flora Banvolgyi (1674) from Hungary.
For player’s parents and all chess fans the organizers prepared chess and non-chess activities, plus on-line transmissions of all the games! All participants can use the hotel’s facilities for active rest and recreation. Roznov and its mountainous surroundings are famous for their versatile sports activities. Participants will certainly enjoy visiting the Wallachian Open Air Museum with the largest open-air museum in Central Europe.
On Wednesday August 26th we are going to know eight new champions of EU for the year 2026. For the winners of each category of boys and girls, there are prepared notebooks and for the 2nd and 3rd places in each category digital chess clocks are prepared. The next three players in each category will receive a valuable chess prize. All participants will receive memorial diploma and medal. Every player will receive at least one price because everyone will be awarded with a T-shirt with the logo of the championship. After each round there will be announced the best games of every category awarded with a material price.
On the website of Czech Chess Federation we will be releasing the news as the championship continues. Among others (results, live games etc.) you can await a rich photo gallery.
Text by: Zdenek Fiala, director
Sachovy klub Svetla nad Sazavou
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