Three rounds were played at the European Youth Chess Championship 2026 and only 68 players in the competition of nearly 1250 participants have reached the maximum score of 3/3 points across 12 categories.
In the Girls U8 category, six players tie for the top scoring 3/3 points: Anastasia-Sofia Rusu (ROU, 1543), Anna Skrzat (POL), Kalina Pejin (SRB, 1612), Maryna Feseniuk (AUT, 1468), Elif Urgen (TUR) and Melike Eliz Karahan (TUR, 1636).
The Open U8 event is led by five players with a flawless score of 3/3: Arguedas Enzo Millan (ESP, 1959), Nikolas Bausys (LTU, 1857), Suad Rahimli (AZE, 1504), Ronaldo Balog (ROU, 1698) and Theodoros Ioakeimidis (GRE, 1548).
Six players head the Girls U10 section: Defne Karaman (TUR, 1690), Sofia Baghramyan (ARM, 1651), Stella Zhu (FIN, 1713), Iris Gemenetzis (FIN, 1807), Tomris Hilal Orten (TUR, 1615) and Nina Bos (POL, 1939).
Eleven players have scored 3/3 in the Open U10 section, taking an early lead in the championship: Alp Emre Erol (TUR, 2170), Jan Szumiec (POL, 2028), Isak Veladzic (AUT, 2033), Han Nam Pham (FRA, 2283), Ali Mete Dere (TUR, 2045), Artem Kucher (UKR, 2044), Junyan Hu (ENG, 2051), Damian Zidek (CZE, 2045), Ertugrul Pala (TUR, 2010), Leon Li (POR, 1924) and Luca Protopopescu (FRA, 1925).
Eight players have emerged at the top of the Girls U12 section: Ema Jaksa (SLO, 1913), Lila Rzadkowska (POL, 2048), Flora Yueya Huang (GER, 1880), Nare Isakhanyan (ARM, 1856), Maria Anistoroaei (ROU, 2036), Anna Rosset (FRA, 2002), Doan Bao Anh Angelina Nguyen (POL, 1897) and Ria Arun (ITA, 2080).
Six players share the lead in the Open U12 tournament with a perfect score: Yiming Zhang (FIN, 2120), Milosz Zajadlak (POL, 2145), Miguel Javier Juan (ESP, 2063), Thomas Lobina (FRA, 2047), Petur Ulfar Ernisson (ISL, 1944) and Ignacy Buklaho (POL, 2104).
Five players have established themselves as the leaders of the Girls U14 section after three rounds: Nika Venskaya (FIDE, 2120), Kaja Rzadkowska (POL, 1997), Senem Gul Bassari (TUR, 1991), Weronika Racis (POL, 2024) and Jeilynn Benhadid (FRA, 1966).
Seven players have won all three of their games in the Open U14 section and share the top position: Rahav Eliran Shilon (ISR, 2323), Tyhran Ambartsumian (ARM, 2353), Gabriel Gabadadze (GEO, 2222), Wiktor Golis (POL, 2364), Vladislav Ivarlac (MDA, 2176), Shamsi Garakhanov (AZE, 2333) and Nikolajs Platonovs (LAT, 2239).
Maryam Aghaverdiyeva (AZE, 2079), Tamila Trunz (GER, 2218), Carrazoni Marta Elena Jimenez (ESP, 2057) and Viktorie Buchtova (CZE, 1994) lead in the GIrls U16 section.
In the Open U16 section, only four players remained on perfect score: Mateu Boci (ALB, 2334), IM Lukas Dotzer (AUT, 2464), Erekle Tabatadze (GEO, 2356) and Uri Shefer (ISR, 2223).
Anastasia Kirtadze (GEO, 2258), Lavinia Valcu (SWE, 2184), Anastasiya Obukhava (POL, 2055) and Narmin Abdinova (AZE, 2203) are on the maximum score in the Girls U18 section.
The Open U18 section has the smallest leading group, with only two players on 3/3 and an early lead in the championship: Yaroslav Shevchenko (UKR, 2391) and Zanas Nainys (LTU, 2332).
All results, pairings and rankings can be found here.
The fourth round is set to bring direct clashes between the leaders, and the games are scheduled for tomorrow at 15:00 (local time). A live video broadcast with expert analysis by WIM Sandra Djukic is available on the ECU YouTube channel.
Photo gallery of the event (Photos by ECU/Mark Livshitz)