Spain’s Marcos GOMEZ emerged as the only unbeaten player after the opening three rounds of the Under 15 Boys event at the Europe Youth Top 10 in Antibes, completing the first day with three victories. See the pictures by Anthoine BERTHELEMY here. GOMEZ was tested immediately in an all-Spanish opening-round encounter against Alexander MALOV. He prevailed 4-2 before producing a commanding performance against Czechia’s Ondrej MORAVEK, winning 4-0. In the final round of the day, GOMEZ faced another compatriot, Ladimir MAYOROV, and secured a 4-1 victory to complete his perfect start. Behind GOMEZ, the competition remains wide open, with several players ending the opening day with two wins from three matches. MAYOROV made an impressive start by beating Poland’s Hubert KWIECINSKI 4-1 and followed it with a straight-games victory over MALOV. His unbeaten run was ended by GOMEZ in Round 3. Russia’s Nazar BAKIROV also started strongly. He overcame MORAVEK 4-2 and Sweden’s Emil ELLERMANN 4-2 before Germany’s Tien Nghia PHONG stopped him in the evening session. BAKIROV took the opening two games against PHONG, but the German responded by winning four in succession for a 4-2 victory. ELLERMANN recovered well after losing to BAKIROV. The Swedish player had opened his campaign with a 4-1 win over France’s Noah TESSIER and returned to winning ways in Round 3, coming from 2-0 down to beat MORAVEK 4-2. PHONG also finished the day with two victories. He began in impressive fashion with a 4-0 win over compatriot Lukas WANG before losing a seven-game contest to TESSIER. He then recovered from two games down against BAKIROV to secure his second win. There was no shortage of close contests during the opening day. MALOV earned his first victory in Round 3 after a seven-game battle with WANG, while KWIECINSKI also needed the full distance to overcome TESSIER. WANG’s victory came in another seven-game encounter, against KWIECINSKI in Round 2. After three of the nine rounds, GOMEZ holds the only perfect record, but with six rounds still to play, the battle for the Under 15 Boys title remains wide open in Antibes. U15 Boys – Results Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Schedule Round 4 – 3 October, 10:50 Round 5 – 3 October, 14:50 Round 6 – 3 October, 18:10 Round 7 – 4 October, 10:50 Round 8 – 4 October, 14:50 Round 9 – 4 October, 18:10
TOLMACHEVA and ROCHUT unbeaten after opening day in Antibes
Varvara TOLMACHEVA of Russia and France’s Albane ROCHUT emerged from the opening day of the Under 15 Girls event at the Europe Youth Top 10 in Antibes with perfect records, both winning all three of their matches. See the pictures by Anthoine BERTHELEMY here. TOLMACHEVA opened her campaign with a 4-2 win over compatriot Amina ILIMBETOVA before recording a convincing 4-0 victory against Czechia’s Adela BRHELOVA. Her toughest challenge came in the third round against Poland’s Aleksandra NAWROCKA. NAWROCKA led 3-1, but TOLMACHEVA responded by taking the next two games to force a decider. The seventh game also went beyond 11 points before TOLMACHEVA eventually prevailed 14-12 to complete the comeback and maintain her unbeaten start. Home favourite ROCHUT was equally successful. The French player began with a straight-games victory over Austria’s Sophia PICHLER before being pushed all the way by Germany’s Amelie JIA in Round 2. ROCHUT eventually secured a 4-3 win and followed it with a 4-2 success against Poland’s Lucja KOBOSZ. Behind the two unbeaten leaders, the competition remains tightly contested. ILIMBETOVA recovered from her opening defeat to TOLMACHEVA by edging NAWROCKA 4-3 and then beating Switzerland’s Enya HU 4-1. JIA also finished the day with two victories, having overcome HU 4-3 in the opening round and bounced back from her narrow defeat to ROCHUT with a 4-0 win against Slovakia’s Barbora GUASSARDO. GUASSARDO also recorded two wins on the opening day. She survived a seven-game contest against BRHELOVA in Round 1 and beat PICHLER 4-1 before losing to JIA in the evening session. NAWROCKA, HU and BRHELOVA each collected one victory from their opening three matches, while KOBOSZ and PICHLER will be looking for their first wins when play resumes. U15 Girls – Results Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Schedule Round 4, 10:00 Round 5, 14:00 Round 6, 17:20 Round 7, 10:00 Round 8, 14:00 Round 9, 17:20
