The German fans had hoped until the end that even at 1.5: 1.5 between Germany 1 and Romania: Everything could have happened in a very confused position on board 3. But in the end the Romanians deservedly won the European Championship 2018 in the U18 Open in Bad Blankenburg. Congratulations!

The round got off to an exciting start, Vincent Keymer gained a strong position and apparently effortlessly exploited it. Roven Vogel, however, overlooked a very strong tactical idea of his opponent, which cost him a pawn. He fought over many moves, but in the end he had to admit defeat. Raphael Lagunow on board 4 did not get out against his opponent about the division of points, so that the well-being of the German team hung on Julian Martin . . . with the outcome just mentioned.

They are looking ahead and this is the 7th and last round of this year's EYTCC, in which the first German team can still win silver. Austria did not win against Belarus either, but got a 2-2 against Belarus, smoking the peace pipe on the first two boards, even though the white players seemed to have the better cards. On board 3 Olga Badelka once again showed her skills and overplayed her opponent with black in a stormy mate attack. Luckily, Austria´s board 4 did his "compulsory task" and came to a full point, so that the day did not end in a complete disaster for the Austrians.

In the encounter between Germany 2 and Poland, board 1 of the German Emil Schmidek against Igor Janik seemed to really want to know. In the opening he sacrificed house and yard, for this he got a development lead and a very dangerous attack. This led to success and gave the second German team a 1-0 lead. Valentin Buckels also seemed to be on the road very well and built up pressure with white against the black position. But all of a sudden the devastating Qxh3+ happened, since the pawn was tied to g2, and ended the game immediately in favor of the Poles. Jonas Roseneck had the slightly better final on 4, but could not make full use of it. So it was up to Konstantin Urban not to lose his worse position and to secure at least one more team point for Germany 2. He did not succeed and so Germany 2 had to accept a defeat.

Israel also had the misfortune to accept such a close defeat. The match against Slovenia was very close and exciting, the two lost matches on board 2 and 4 were decisive in the end and could no longer be made good.

Germany 3 played a draw on the two white boards and hoped that Jakob Pajeken and Luis Engel would earn 1.5 board points together. While Luis tried this in a confusing endgame, on Jakobs board it was rather the German who had to be careful that the majority of the opponent at the king wing does not become a danger. Luis did not get beyond the division of points and Jakob had to accept the defeat, so here too the narrowest result imaginable, a 1.5 defeat was to be booked for the Germans.

The Turks have found their master in Hungary today. So far things have been great for the Turks, for the Hungarians rather so lala, but today it flashed again what a great potential the Hungarians have. With 3.5: 0.5 the Turkish selection was defeated.

Denmark did not go beyond 2-2 against Slovakia. The first two boards Jonas Bjerre and Filip Boe Olsen won, but they suffered 2 defeats in the back.

In the U 18 female it remains exciting, because Poland showed nerves today and did not get over a 1: 1 against Romania. Although Oliwia Kiolbasa won her game with black apparently without effort, Miruna-Daria Lehaci showed a courageous performance on board 1, sacrificed a figure for a number of pawns and finally won thanks to those.

The German selection was delighted. Germany 1 won, again thanks to the victory of Fiona Sieber, who now stands at grandiose 6 out of 6, against the Slovenian selection and thus remains close to Poland.

Croatia also seem to have overcome the weak period and won with 1.5: 0.5 against Hungary.

Germany 3 can be very satisfied with their result, because Slovenia 2 is clearly a strong opponent and thanks to a victory by Ann-marie Mütsch the team scored one team point.

The same applies to Germany 4, who scored a team point after Vitalia Khamenya won against the Serbs seeded 1. The Czech Republic won against Slovakia and the Israeli team clearly won 2: 0 against Turkey.

In the U12 Open, Israel quickly put pressure on Turkey, as Israel were able to take the 2.5 lead quite confidently and quickly, losing 3-1 in the end, against Germany 2. Although the first two German boards held draws, the hosts saw no trick on 3 and 4 and had to admit defeat. So the tournament for Germany 2 is over, because tomorrow, in the last round, the young team has a free round.

Many experiences have been gained, everyone has noticed that the international competition is strong and everyone takes enough things home with them to work on in the future.

Turkey had immense problems against the Belarusians. Both black boards gave up very early because they had been overridden by their opponents. The Turkish whiteboards lasted much longer. And they not only held on, but also created real chances of winning. But the Belarusian resistance was too strong. Turkey even lost 3.5:0.5! This means that Israel now leads alone with 11 team points and tomorrow they will have it in their own hands to become European champions.

Germany 3 got today a used day turned on. Against France, the team was quickly trailing and could not get a foot on the ground afterwards either. In the end it was 3.5: 0.5 against the equipe tricolore.

Germany 1 scored 2-2 against the strong team from Hungary, thanks to a victory at Franziskus Leopold Wagner´s board.

In the U12 female the decision has not yet been made. Hungary won against Germany 3 with 1.5: 0.5, keeping the gap of 2 team points, because Germany 1 acted sovereign and won 2:0 against France. Germany 2 had their top board Saskia Pohle paused today and still achieved a good 1:1 against Czech Republic. In the U12 female the decision will be made tomorrow. One team point would be enough for the German duo to become first European champion in this age group!