Roman Dehtiaryov, an 18-year-old chess player from Kharkiv, Ukraine, has won the 2026 European Individual Chess Championship by defeating Grandmaster David Antón Guijarro in the final round, according to the European Chess Union (ECU).
“Congratulations to 18-year-old IM Roman Dehtiarov
on winning the European Individual Chess Championship 2026! ” the ECU wrote in a post on X.
It was noted that the young Ukrainian was the sole winner of the competition, defeating Grandmaster David Antón Guijarro in the final round.
Starting from 126th place in the initial ranking, Dehtiaryov created a major sensation at the championship, finishing the tournament with a total score of 9/11 points, suffering only one defeat throughout the event, and achieving an extraordinary performance rating of 2781.
International Grandmaster Ukrainian Pavel Eljanov also commented, saying that at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 he helped Ukrainian families relocate to Europe, but Dehtiaryov—then 14 years old—refused to leave at the last moment.
“Everything was arranged for a family from Kharkiv—until their 14-year-old son, a talented chess player, refused to leave at the last moment. He did not want to leave his father. He stayed in one of the most dangerous places in Ukraine. With very limited travel opportunities and almost no training, he still became the Ukrainian champion,” Eljanov wrote.
According to him, Dehtiaryov’s victory became “the biggest sensation in the history of the European Championship.”
