The 8th round of the European Team Chess Championship 2025 was played today, and only one round left before the announcement of European Team Champions.
Today’s round was opened by the ECU President Mr. Zurab Azmaiparashvili and FIDE Secretary General Mr. Lukasz Turlej. They played the first ceremonial move in the game between IM Deimante Daulyte-Cornette (FRA, 2386) and IM Alina Kashlinskaya (POL, 2450) at the top Women’s match of France vs Poland.
An intense top board match of the Open section played between leading Ukraine and runner-up Azerbaijan, ended with Azerbaijan taking an important victory. GM Rauf Mamedov (AZE, 2655) defeated GM Andrei Volokitin (UKR, 2617) and interestingly, it was Mamedov’s first victory in the tournament after a shaky start of 1 loss and 4 draws! With the other three games finishing in draw, Azerbaijan won the match with the final 2.5-1.5 score, and heading into the last round, Ukraine and Azerbaijan tie for the top scoring 13 match points.
Netherlands, England and Serbia tie for the third place, scoring 11 match points, after all three teams drew their matches today. Netherlands drew against England, while Serbia played 2-2 against Germany.
Poland kept the sole lead in the Women’s section after defeating the team of France. IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (POL, 2394) crushed WGM Andrea Navrotescu (FRA, 2257) and brought her team the initial lead. IM Klaudia Kulon (POL, 2336) was the next one to finish her game, and she scored a win against WFM Emilie Negre (FRA, 2221). GM Monika Socko (POL, 2356) drew a very balanced game against IM Pauline Guichard (FRA, 2330) while IM Alina Kashlinskaya (POL, 2450) escaped with a draw from a tense game where IM Deimante Daulyte-Cornette (FRA, 2386) had a clear advantage and pushed for a win.
Germany and Ukraine tie for the second place, scoring 13 match points, and trailing the leader by one match point. Germany convincingly defeated Greece today with the score of 3-1, while Ukraine narrowly won against Georgia with the 2.5-1.5 result. With these wins, the top three teams almost certainly secured medals, since the 4th team on the rankings scores 11 match points.
All results, rankings and pairings can be found here.
The final round starts at 12:00 (local time), and live broadcast of the games together with commentaries by GM Alojzije Jankovic and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili can be followed through the ECU TV platform or the ECU YouTube channel.