The 1st round of the European Youth Team Chess Championship (EYTCC) is history. But those who expected many safe victories of the alleged favourites at the start were deceived. Especially in the U18, where all teams except Turkey are more or less on the same level, there was a lot of fighting chess to see. And even the Turkish team gave a good account of themselves against Germany 3. So Alexander Rieß had to play an early draw with the black pieces on board 2. Since the opponent with white against Rieß` Grunfeld Defense did not try more than to achieve the division of points. Board 1 showed an exciting game in which Halit Kann Kesgin brought Luis Engel and his English opening into great distress with an early push f5-f4.

In between, Kesgin already looked like the sure winner, but Luis still saved himself in the points division so the two back boards had to score. Jakob Pajeken fulfilled this task, also because his opponent Asim Turan was theoretically not fit and allowed a well-known bishop's sacrifice at h7 in the Queen's Pawn Game. Germany, represented by Daniel Kopylov, also remained successful on board 4 and so the match at board 1 attracted special attention, where Germany 1 duelled Germany 2. The 1-0 got Vincent Keymer, the Grenke Open winner, on board 2 against Valentin Buckels. Whoever considered this to be the preliminary decision was wrong. Because Roven Vogel (like Vincent Germany 1) didn't get out of the opening very well with White and had to fight for balance. In the end there was the draw.

Julian Martin (Germany 1) on board 3 took a pawn against Konstantin Urban, who hoped for an attack against the shortly castled white king. Whether this was correct or not, everyone can form his own opinion about it, in the end Constantine remained successful in any case. So the score is 1.5:1.5.

And the match between Raphael Lagunow (Germany 1) and Jonas Roseneck was anything but clear at board 4. Jonas led the white stones and came in a Marozcy structure to a very pleasant position. But Raphael achieved a slightly better position after a good game, which he foregoed and which Jonas could finally lead to victory. A big surprise the 2.5 win of Germany 2!

But also the other matches were marked by tension, so Hungary could prevail with a 2.5 victory against Denmark. Poland, Austria and Romania also remained successful in their games.

In the U18 female there was also the match of two German teams: Germany 1 against Germany 3. It should be mentioned that in the girls' competitions only 2 players form a team at a time. Germany 1 is represented by Fiona Sieber and Jana Schneider. Fiona won a well-managed attacking game which brought her to a successful end against Ann-Marie Mütsch despite exchanged Queens and little time on the clock. The same applies to the match between Antonia Ziegenfuss and Jana. Here, however, was the favourite Jana, the one who faced a strong attack and had to strike her color´s at the end.

Germany 3 had to play against Slovakia: here a not quite satisfied Teodora Rogozenco made draws with black, while her team mate Lara Schulze won with the white pieces on the first board and thus helped the team to a victory. Germany was not quite as successful on the last board. Germany 4, consisting of Jacqueline Kobald and Vitalia Khamenya, is at the bottom of the seeding. The two very talented ladies will certainly collect many more points. Not only Germany 1 had problems, also the favourites from Serbia did not get beyond a 1-1 against Croatia (congratulations to the World Cup final participation). The Polish team, on the other hand, came out on top with a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic.

It was similarly exciting for the younger ones. First of all we have to say that Matteo Metzdorf (Germany 1) could not compete due to health reasons, we hope very much that he will recover soon again to enter the tournament. Leonardo Costa scored the second 0 and also on board 1 Franziskus Leopold Wagner had to fight against his Israeli opponent, but he could turn the tide and won, just like Jeremy Hommer, who finished 2-2, what a comeback of the young team!

The U12 Open also saw a German-German duel between the second (but nominally strongest) German team and Germany 3: although Nikita Schubert had a hard time on the last board against Magnus Ermitsch, as if by a miracle, at least for the spectators, Nikita could still win the match. As a team, you win and lose together. His team mates lived up to this motto and brought home the duel with 3 victories.

The strong Hungarians clearly beat the Czech Republic, while the Turkish team fought hard against the superior French and finally won 2.5:1.5.

In the U12 female a total of 6 teams will start, Germany 3 could reach a draw against Czech Republic thanks to a winner of Margarete Wagner. The duel within Germany between Germany 1 and 2 ended with 1.5: 0.5 for Germany 1 and after a long fight France had to admit the defeat to the strong Hungarians.

Tomorrow there will be a double round for both U 12 tournaments, which means going to bed early to get 4 points for the teams tomorrow.

We were happy about a successful first day and are looking forward to the coming week!