title: European Junior Chess Championship
text: # European Junior Chess Championship
  
  The first chess youth championship in Europe was the yearly European Junior Championship for under age 20. It was played from 1971–2002. FIDE officially introduced the European Junior Championship in 1970 at their Annual Congress and so the 1971/72 edition was the first official European Junior Championship. Effectively, they adopted the 'Niemeyer Tournament', held every year in Groningen since 1962, and re-packaged it. For completeness also the winners of this Niemeyer tournament are listed. The first competition for girls was held in 1977/1978.
  
  ## List of winners
  
  | Year | Location | Boys winner | Location | Girls winner |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Niemeyer Tournament |
  | 1962/1963 | Groningen, Netherlands | Coenraad Zuidema | | |
  | 1963/1964 | Groningen, Netherlands | Robert Gijsbertus Hartoch Jørn Sloth | | |
  | 1964/1965 | Groningen, Netherlands | Hans Ree Robert Hübner | | |
  | 1965/1966 | Groningen, Netherlands | Andrew John Whiteley Hans Ree | | |
  | 1966/1967 | Groningen, Netherlands | Mikhail Steinberg | | |
  | 1967/1968 | Groningen, Netherlands | Anatoly Karpov | | |
  | 1968/1969 | Groningen, Netherlands | Karl-Heinz Siegfried Maeder Zoltán Ribli Rafael Vaganian | | |
  | 1969/1970 | Groningen, Netherlands | András Adorján | | |
  | 1970/1971 | Groningen, Netherlands | Zoltán Ribli | | |
  | European Junior Championship |
  | 1971/1972 | Groningen, Netherlands | Gyula Sax | | |
  | 1972/1973 | Groningen, Netherlands | Oleg Romanishin | | |
  | 1973/1974 | Groningen, Netherlands | Sergey Makarichev | | |
  | 1974/1975 | Groningen, Netherlands | John Nunn | | |
  | 1975/1976 | Groningen, Netherlands | Alexander Kochyev | | |
  | 1976/1977 | Groningen, Netherlands | Ľubomír Ftáčnik | | |
  | 1977/1978 | Groningen, Netherlands | Shaun Taulbut | Novi Sad, Yugoslavia | Bożena Sikora Rita Kas |
  | 1978/1979 | Groningen, Netherlands | John van der Wiel | Kikinda, Yugoslavia | Nana Ioseliani |
  | 1979/1980 | Groningen, Netherlands | Alexander Chernin | Kula, Turkey | Nana Ioseliani |
  | 1980/1981 | Groningen, Netherlands | Ralf Åkesson | Senta, Yugoslavia | Agnieszka Brustman |
  | 1981/1982 | Groningen, Netherlands | Curt Hansen | Panonia, Yugoslavia | Elena Stupina |
  | 1982/1983 | Groningen, Netherlands | Jaan Ehlvest | | |
  | 1983/1984 | Groningen, Netherlands | Valery Salov | | |
  | 1984/1985 | Groningen, Netherlands | Ferdinand Hellers | Katowice, Poland | Ildikó Mádl |
  | 1985/1986 | Groningen, Netherlands | Alexander Khalifman | | |
  | 1986/1987 | Groningen, Netherlands | Vassily Ivanchuk | Băile Herculane, Romania | Ildikó Mádl |
  | 1987/1988 | Arnhem, Netherlands | Boris Gelfand | | |
  | 1988/1989 | Arnhem, Netherlands | Alexey Dreev Boris Gelfand | not played | |
  | 1989/1990 | Arnhem, Netherlands | Grigory Serper | Dębica, Poland | Svetlana Matveeva |
  | 1990/1991 | Arnhem, Netherlands | Rune Djurhuus | | |
  | 1991/1992 | Aalborg, Denmark | Aleksander Delchev | | |
  | 1992 | Sas van Gent, Netherlands | Aleksej Aleksandrov | Hradec Králové, Czechoslovakia | Nino Khurtsidze |
  | 1993 | Vejen, Denmark | Vladislav Borovikov | Svitavy, Czech Republic | Ilaha Kadimova |
  | 1994 | not played | | Svitavy, Czech Republic | Silvia Aleksieva |
  | 1995 | Holon, Israel | Yury Shulman | Zanka, Hungary | Maria Velcheva |
  | 1996 | Siofok, Hungary | Andrey Shariyazdanov | Tapolca, Hungary | Maia Lomineishvili |
  | 1997 | Tallinn, Estonia | Dimitri Tyomkin | Tallinn, Estonia | Sofiko Tkeshelashvili |
  | 1998 | Yerevan, Armenia | Levon Aronian | Yerevan, Armenia | Sofiko Tkeshelashvili |
  | 1999 | Niforeika, Greece | Dennis de Vreugt | Niforeika, Greece | Regina Pokorná |
  | 2000 | Avilés, Spain | Ádám Horváth | Avilés, Spain | Jovanka Houska |
  | 2001 | Rion, Greece | Zviad Izoria | Rion, Greece | Iweta Radziewicz |
  | 2002 | Baku, Azerbaijan | Zviad Izoria | Baku, Azerbaijan | Zeinab Mamedyarova |
  
  * ↑ In 1976 the tournament was combined with the World Junior Chess Championship. The American Mark Diesen won the event, but Ľubomír Ftáčnik finished second and first European.
  