France’s Leana HOCHART remains unbeaten in the Under 19 Girls event at the Europe Youth Top 10 in Antibes after another impressive day, while compatriot Alexia NODIN stayed firmly in the title race with three victories on Saturday. See the pictures by Anthoine BERTHELEMY here. HOCHART has yet to lose after six matches and continued her run without dropping a game on the second day. She opened with a commanding 4-0 victory over Czechia’s Veronika POLAKOVA and later produced another straight-games performance against Portugal’s Julia LEAL. The French player had already made a strong start on Friday, when she won all three of her matches, and she remains the only unbeaten player in the competition. NODIN, whose only defeat came against Romania’s Bianca MEI-ROSU on the opening day, responded with an excellent second day. She began by beating Poland’s Karolina HOLDA 4-0, overcame Belgium’s Lilou MASSART 4-2 and finished with another straight-games victory against POLAKOVA. MEI-ROSU also remains very much in contention. The Romanian added two victories on Saturday, beating MASSART 4-2 and POLAKOVA 4-1. Her only defeat so far came against NODIN on Friday. Behind the leading trio, Natalia BOGDANOWICZ of Poland continued her solid campaign, while HOLDA finished the day with a dramatic seven-game victory over MASSART. Germany’s Koharu ITAGAKI was forced to withdraw from the competition through injury after Round 4. Following her withdrawal, her results were erased and are no longer counted in the competition. With the decisive matches still ahead, HOCHART carries an unbeaten record into the final day, with NODIN and MEI-ROSU keeping the pressure on in the battle for the U19 Girls title. Under 19 Girls Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 – 11:40 Round 8 – 15:40 Round 9 – 19:00

Varvara TOLMACHEVA of Russia maintained her perfect record in the Under 15 Girls event at the Europe Youth Top 10 in Antibes, moving to the top of the standings with six wins from six matches. See the pictures by Anthoine BERTHELEMY here. After completing the opening day unbeaten, TOLMACHEVA continued her run with another three victories on Saturday. She first overcame Austria’s Sophia PICHLER 4-2 before facing a much tougher challenge from Switzerland’s Enya HU. TOLMACHEVA won the opening two games, but HU responded by taking three in succession to move 3-2 ahead. TOLMACHEVA regained control when it mattered most, taking the sixth and seventh games to prevail 4-3. She then completed her perfect day with a 4-1 victory over Germany’s Amelie JIA. Amina ILIMBETOVA is TOLMACHEVA’s closest challenger in the standings with a 5-1 record. After losing to TOLMACHEVA in the opening round on Friday, ILIMBETOVA has won five matches in succession. Her second day began with one of the most dramatic encounters of the competition against France’s Albane ROCHUT. The match went the full distance before ILIMBETOVA prevailed in the seventh game for a 4-3 victory, inflicting ROCHUT’s first defeat of the tournament. ILIMBETOVA followed with a 4-1 win over Slovakia’s Barbora GUASSARDO and closed the day in commanding fashion, beating Czechia’s Adela BRHELOVA in straight games. ROCHUT remains firmly in contention at 5-1. After the narrow defeat to ILIMBETOVA, the French player responded with a 4-1 victory over Poland’s Aleksandra NAWROCKA. Her final match against HU produced another seven-game battle. ROCHUT moved 3-1 ahead before HU fought back to force a decider, but the home favourite held her nerve to win the seventh game and secure her fifth victory. NAWROCKA, JIA and GUASSARDO are all on 3-3, with NAWROCKA occupying fourth place in the official standings. The Polish player edged HU 4-3 in Round 4, lost to ROCHUT and then finished strongly with a 4-0 victory over GUASSARDO. With three rounds remaining, TOLMACHEVA holds the only perfect record at 6-0, while ILIMBETOVA and ROCHUT are both one victory behind at 5-1. The three are now setting the pace as the battle for the U15 Girls title heads into the final day in Antibes. U15 Girls – Results Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7, 10:00 Round 8, 14:00 Round 9, 17:20

Spain’s Ladimir MAYOROV moved to the top of the Under 15 Boys standings at the Europe Youth Top 10 in Antibes after six rounds, with Germany’s Tien Nghia PHONG matching his 5-1 win-loss record. Marcos GOMEZ of Spain, the only unbeaten player after the opening day, is third at 4-2. See the pictures by Anthoine BERTHELEMY here. After six rounds, both MAYOROV and PHONG have five victories and one defeat, while Marcos GOMEZ of Spain, who had been the only unbeaten player at the end of the opening day, suffered two defeats on Saturday and now stands on four wins. PHONG, the No. 3 player on the starting list, enjoyed a perfect second day. He opened with a 4-1 victory over Czechia’s Ondrej MORAVEK before beating Sweden’s Emil ELLERMANN 4-2. His final match of the day brought him up against GOMEZ, who had won his opening four matches. The Spaniard twice moved ahead, taking the first and third games, but PHONG responded strongly. From 2-1 down, the German won three consecutive games to secure a 4-2 victory and finish the day with a 5-1 record. MAYOROV, No. 6 on the starting list, was equally impressive. The Spaniard had already won two of his three matches on Friday and added three more victories on the second day. He beat Germany’s Lukas WANG in straight games before overcoming France’s Noah TESSIER 4-2. MAYOROV completed his perfect day with another 4-0 performance, this time against Russia’s Nazar BAKIROV. For GOMEZ, Saturday brought a dramatic change of fortunes. After three victories on the opening day, he extended his winning run by beating ELLERMANN 4-2 in Round 4. However, WANG brought that unbeaten sequence to an abrupt end with a 4-0 victory in the following round. PHONG then inflicted GOMEZ’s second defeat in the evening session. There were significant results throughout the field. TESSIER, the No. 10 player on the starting list, produced a convincing 4-1 victory over top-listed Alexander MALOV and later closed the day with a straight-games win over WANG. Poland’s Hubert KWIECINSKI also collected two victories, beating BAKIROV 4-1 and ELLERMANN 4-1, although MORAVEK stopped him in straight games in Round 5. MALOV continued to experience a difficult competition. After winning only once on the opening day, the No. 1 player lost to TESSIER and BAKIROV before recovering with a 4-1 victory over MORAVEK in the final round of the day. With three rounds remaining, PHONG and MAYOROV have put themselves in a strong position at 5-1, but GOMEZ remains close behind at 4-2 as the battle for the U15 Boys title heads into the final day in Antibes. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 – 4 October, 10:50 Round 8 – 4 October, 14:50 Round 9 – 4 October, 18:10