GM Daniil Yuffa (ESP, 2654) emerged as the sole leader of the European Individual Chess Championship 2025 after four played rounds, as the only player with the maximum score of 4/4 points.
GM Daniil Yuffa (ESP, 2654) defeated GM Misratdin Iskandarov (AZE, 2524) with White pieces showing great technique in the endgame. Both players had a positional approach in the game and a very solid position started to look better for Whites just two moves before the time control. Being in a time trouble, Iskandarov made two mistakes in the endgame, and Daniil Yuffa pushed it towards the fourth consecutive win in the tournament.
As many as 18 players follow with the score of 3.5 points, including: GM David Navara (CZE, 2663), GM Baadur Jobava (GEO, 2578), GM Tari Aryan (NOR, 2621), GM Gledura Benjamin (HUN, 2658), GM Lorenzo Lodici (ITA, 2559), GM Jorden Van Foreest (NED, 2676), GM Dudin Gleb (HUN, 2544), GM Ido Gorshtein (ISR, 2569), GM Ivan Saric (CRO, 2652), GM Maxime Lagarde (FRA, 2615), GM Sonis Francesco (ITA, 2570), GM Gabriel Sargissian (ARM, 2628), GM Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM, 2630), GM Matthias Bluebaum (GER, 2643), GM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (GRE, 2580), GM Mustafa Yilmaz (TUR, 2576), GM Mahammad Muradli (AZE, 2584) and GM Kantor Gergely (HUN, 2563).
During the live video broadcast, our hosts GM Alojzije Jankovic and WIM Sandra Djukic hosted some of the players, including GM Baadur Jobava and GM Jorden Van Foreest who played a thrilling game which finished in a draw. They joined our studio together and analyzed the game, showing impressive calculations they went over during the game.
Today’s round was opened by the best Romanian footballer in history Mr. Gheorghe Hagi! Gheorghe Hagi is known as the King of Romanian football and Maradona of the Carpahians. He played 125 matches for Romanian national team and is the all time Romanian goal scorer with 35 goals. Hagi played for Steaua, Barcelona, Real Madrid, won the UEFA Cup and the European Supercup.
At the beginning of the fourth round, Gheorghe Hagi played the first ceremonial move in the game between GM David Gavrilescu (ROU, 2549) and GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (POL, 2659), and inaugurated the start of the games.
At the beginning of the round, the Chief Arbiter Mr. Ivan Syrovi, organisers team, ECU representatives and the players greeted legendary Ukrainian GM Vasyl Ivanchuk who today celebrates his 56th birthday anniversary.
A tough day concluded with a remarkable victory by GM Svane Rasmus (GER, 2627) against IM Shiroghlan Talibov (AZE, 2428). Svane squeezed water from a stone and won equal Queens endgame after 165 moves and almost 7 hours of play!
What a victory and remarkable fighting spirit by GM Rasmus Svane🇩🇪!
— European Chess Union (@ECUonline) March 18, 2025
Svane squeezed water from a stone and won equal but very tough Queens endgame against IM Shiroghlan Talibov🇦🇿. The game had 165 moves and lasted nearly 7 hours! pic.twitter.com/vfEyjfgxWf
The fifth round starts tomorrow at 15:00 (local time), and live games and live video broadcast can be followed through the ECU TV platform and ECU YouTube channel.
All results, rankings and pairings can be found here.