Round IV of the European Youth Chess Championship has been so far the most exciting one.
In the open section Germany is sole leading with 7 points after convincing victory 3,5-0,5. Defeated in the top match Croatia is sharing second place together with Serbia and Moldova. The second match, between Poland and Hungary has been very balanced, with all draws. Another 2-2 appeared, with all the games won by white in the match between Ukraine and Israel. All mentioned above teams are sharing 5th - 10th place as well as Denmark and Czech Republic, keeping chances for top places in the final standings.
The biggest surprise of the round could have been a match Slovakia II vs Belgium. Could have been... it's a long story – let's have a look on the diagram:
This is the last game of the match, while the score is 1,5-1,5. After many ups and downs the position above appeared. Black has a queen advantage, but... how to stop the white pawns?
1... Rg8! The only winning move!
1... Re8 2.d7 +-
1...Rb8 2.Qxb8+! (2.d7?? Qxg2+! 3.Kxg2 Qe4+! -+) Qxb8 3.d7 Qc6 
4.d8Q+ Qe8 5.Qxb8 Qxb8 6.Nc7!=
1...Rc8 2.d7 Qxg2+ 3.Kxg2 Rc2+ (3...Qe4+ is loosing due to 4.Kg3, in comparison to 1...Rb8, there is no square for the rook on the 3rd rank) 4.Qf2! Rxf2+ 5.Kxf2 Qc2+ with perpetual check
2.d7 Qcd1 (easier would have been Qf1! 3.Qg1 is the only defence, but it's not enough – Qxg1 4.Kxg1 Qd1+ 5.Kh2 Qxd5 6.e8Q Qa8 -+) 3.e8Q (d8Q looses to Qh1+ 4.Kg3 Qd3+ 5.Qe3 Qhe1+!)
3...Qh1+?? (Qxd5! -+) 4.Kg3 Qd3+ 5.Qae3 Qe1+ 6.Kh2 Q1xe3 7.Qxg8+ Kxg8 8.d8Q 
After Kh7 white has nothing better than perpetual check, and the match would been finished with 2-2. Unfortunately for Belgium, black has played 8...Kf7?? after which white is winning. The game continued: 9.Qxf6+ Ke8 10.Nxe3 Qxe3 11.Qxg6 1-0
We expect another exciting games in round 5. The top pairings are:
Serbia - Germany
Moldova - Croatia
Israel - Hungary
Poland I - Denmark
Czech Republic - Ukraine
Girls section
After the 4th round we have still a sole leader – Ukraine, still with astonishing 100% result on boards. Ukrainian players won 2-0 against Slovenia II after quite easy games – on the first board Monika Rozman decided to play 1. f4, but only after the opening Black equalised and then took the initiative and won easily. S. Krasnokutskaya was quickly pawn up and thanks to her precision, she won really convincingly. 2nd place is occupied by two teams – Poland I (after the victory over Poland II 2-0) and Estonia, who has won 1,5-0,5 against Turkey II) but they both lose 2 matchpoints to the leader. There are only 4 players who scored 4 points out of 4 games (Martynkova, Krasnokutskaya – both from Ukraine – Kubicka – Poland I – and Unuk from Slovenia I), but after tomorrow's round minimum one of them will lose some points, because Poland I is facing Ukraine. Estonia will play against Slovenia I and Czech Republic will fight with Slovenia II.
The 4th round has shown some really good tactical skills of the players, let us show some of them:
Laura Unuk (SLO I) – Nela Pychova (CZE)
1.Rxd7! The beginning of really nice and correct combination - 1...Qxd7 2.Qf6 Kf8 3.Bxg6! A punch line – now black is helpless. Ke8 4.Re1 White brings the next piece into play. fxg6 5.Rxe6+ Qxe6 6.Qxe6+ Ne7 7.Nf3 Rc6 8.Qe5 Kd7 9.Qg7 Re6 10.c4! White is really consistent. dxc4 11.d5 We4 12.Se5+ Wxe5 13.Hxe5 Wa6 14.Hb8+- and after few moves Black has resigned 1-0.
Teodora Rogozenco (GER) – Marina Gajcin (SRB)
White has sacrificed a pawn just after the opening and has to show it was a correct decision. 1.h4! Nd7 2.h5 Qc7?! 2... Qb8 is better. 3.Qc1! With two threats – Nd4 and Qh6. 3...Kg7?? Decesive mistake. Black should have played 3...g5! 4.Nd4 Qe5 5.Ne6 with unclear position. 4.Nd4!+- Qe5 5.Ne6+ Kf7 6.Bb5! Qxe4 7.f3 Qe5 8.Bxd7 Rh8 9.Qh6 f5 10.Ng5+ Kf6 11.Nxh7+! 1-0
1.Rxd7! The beginning of really nice and correct combination - 1...Qxd7 2.Qf6 Kf8 3.Bxg6! A punch line – now black is helpless. Ke8 4.Re1 White brings the next piece into play. fxg6 5.Rxe6+ Qxe6 6.Qxe6+ Ne7 7.Nf3 Rc6 8.Qe5 Kd7 9.Qg7 Re6 10.c4! White is really consistent. dxc4 11.d5 We4 12.Se5+ Wxe5 13.Hxe5 Wa6 14.Hb8+- and after few moves Black has resigned 1-0.
