Eight rounds have been already played at the European Individual Chess Championship 2025 in Eforie Nord, Romania, and just three rounds left before the announcement of the Winners and qualifiers for the next World Chess Cup.
Scoring 6.5 points each, GM Baadur Jobava (GEO, 2578), GM Daniil Yuffa (ESP, 2654), GM Aryan Tari (NOR, 2621), GM Matthias Bluebaum (GER, 2643) and GM Gabriel Sargissian (ARM, 2628) tie for the top, and they are followed by a group of 18 players who score of 6 points.
GM Aryan Tari (NOR, 2621) and GM Matthias Bluebaum (GER, 2643) played a very solid game which finished in a draw after only 23 moves, following trades and simplification of the position.
Playing on the second board, GM Baadur Jobava (GEO, 2578) drew against GM Frederik Svane (GER, 2654) after a long and electrifying game. The exciting middlegame transposed into a drawish Queens’ endgame, and at one moment we had exciting position with four Queens on the board! The position untangled with trades, and the game eventually concluded with a known pawns endgame stalemate where Black had a pawn up but no chance for a win.
GM Daniil Yuffa (ESP, 2654) bounced back after yesterday’s loss and defeated GM Yuriy Kuzubov (UKR, 2603). The unusual opening turned up better for Yuffa who had White pieces, since Kuzubov made a few inaccuracies over a course of the couple of moves. The reigning Spanish Champion, Daniil Yuffa, consecutively won a pawn, and Kuzubov tried to complicate the situation with an exchange sacrifice. Yuffa was precise and waited for the perfect moment to simplify, give the exchange back, and enter a winning rooks endgame with unstoppable four passed pawns.
GM Gabriel Sargissian (ARM, 2628) was victorious against GM Paul Velten (FRA, 2515) with Black pieces. It seemed that Sargissian was better prepared for the opening and Velten had troubles finding a continuation at the 14th move of play. The French Grandmaster spent 45 minutes for the next move, allowing his opponent to get a slightly better position and huge advantage on the clock. Sargissian used that to gradually improve his set-up, but after the time control, the players had drawish Queen + Rook vs Queen + Rook endgame with the equal material. Gabriel Sargissian pressed for a win, and Paul Velten eventually cracked under pressure, entering a lost Queens endgame with two pawns down.
Our hosts in the studio GM Alojzije Jankovic and WIM Lena Govedarica spoke today with Romanian National Champion GM David Gavrilescu, GM Alexander Donchenko, and GM Maxim Rodshtein, who provided engaging insights and analyses from their games.
The 9th round is scheduled for tomorrow and starts at 15:00 (local time). Live games and live video broadcast can be followed through the ECU TV platform or ECU YouTube channel.
All results, rankings and pairings can be found here.
Photos by David Llada