European Championship, Round 1 - Live

by ChessBase
4/7/2026 – The Polish Chess Federation is hosting the 2026 European Championship in Katowice. The tournament runs on 7-19 April with 501 players competing for the Continental title, prize money and one of the 20 qualifying places for the next edition of the World Cup. Igor Kovalenko (Ukraine), David Anton (Spain) and Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania) are the highest-rated participants. | Follow the games live with expert commentary starting at 15.00 CEST (9.00 ET, 18.30 IST)
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Round 1

The European Championship is an 11-round Swiss open. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes until the end of the game, with 30-second increments per move from the start of the game.

A total of 501 players have registered to participate, with Igor Kovalenko, David Anton and Bogdan-Daniel Deac starting as the top seeds.

The organisers are offering a total prize pool of €100,000, with €20,000 going to the tournament winner. Perhaps even more important for the top players is the chance to qualify for the next edition of the FIDE World Cup. The top 20 players get a ticket for the FIDE knockout tournament, in which three players can win a ticket for the Candidates Tournament.

Schedule

  • Rounds 1-4: April 7-10
  • Rest day: April 11
  • Rounds 5-9: April 12-16
  • Rest day: April 17
  • Rounds 10-11: April 17-18

Full pairings and standings on Chess-Results...

Live games and commentary

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