Three rounds have been played on European Youth Chess Championship which takes place in Mamaia, Romania.
The event gathered 1142 youth players from 46 European federations and is played in 6 age categories U9, U10, U12, U14, U16 and U18, boys and girls separately. In the youngest Open category U8, 12 players have the perfect score and 3 points out of 3 games. In the same age category for girls the situation is less complicated with 4 girls with all victories. In Open section U10, 9 players have 3 points, while in girls section for the same age category there are 7 girls who won all the games.
Things are not much different in Open U12 and Girls U12 sections where 8 boys (in Open section) and 6 girls (in Girls section) who started the tournament with all games won. In Open U14 category the top seeders failed on the start, and there are 5 boys with 3 points. 4 girls are tied in the Girls U14 section, each with score 3/3. In Open U16 section, 2 International masters from Armenia and Latvia and a boy from Russia share the first place, all with the perfect score, while in Girls U16 section 5 girls have 3 points, among them two WFMs and one WIM.
In the strongest category of the Championship, Open U18, in competition of 50 titled players, 10 IMs and even one GM, just three players stood out with 3 points. In section for Girls U18, after three rounds played, the sole leader is Rogozenco Teodora from Germany, the only one with the perfect score of 3/3.
All the results, pairings and standings can be seen here.
On today’s schedule is 4th round which will clarify the situation on the top of the list in each section. The 4th round starts at 3 pm (local time). The organizers provided live broadcast of 90 games which can be followed through the official website of the Championship or through the ECU website, section LIVE.
The tournament is played according to the Swiss System in 9 rounds, with time control 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.
The event is organized by Romanian Chess Federation, “Mind Games&Events” Sports Association under the auspices of European Chess Union.
Photographs by: Sport In Imagini/Tudor Alexandru Panait