Four rounds have been played at the European Individual Chess Championship 2026 in Katowice, Poland, and only two players remain with a perfect score of 4/4 points!
GM Robert Hovhannisyan (ARM, 2621) and GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (ESP, 2575) each scored a maximum 4/4 points to head into the first free day of the tournament as the early co-leaders.
GM Robert Hovhannisyan took a victory yesterday against GM Dimitris Alexakis (GRE, 2528) in a very sharp Sicilian game. Alexakis made a big mistake in the early stage of the game with 17…h4?, allowing Hovhannisyan to press against Black’s king and eventually trade queens to enter a completely winning endgame.
GM Eduardo Iturrizaga positionally outplayed IM Samir Sahidi (SVK, 2513) after squeezing an edge for the major part of the game. Iturrizaga took his time to coordinate his pieces and find perfect spots for them until Sahidi cracked under pressure with 69…Kb7?, allowing White to get a decisive edge. It came down to endgame technique, which was perfectly exploited by the Spanish grandmaster.
Today is the first free day for the players, and the games will continue with Round 5 tomorrow at 15:00 CEST. But the free day doesn’t mean ‘no chess’ for the participants. Some will use the time to prepare for games or visit Katowice, while others enjoyed a Blitz gathering in the hotel last evening.
All results, rankings and pairings can be found here.
Detailed information about the event can be found on the official website.
Live video broadcast of the games and daily recap videos from the Championship can be followed through the ECU YouTube channel.