The German Youth State Championship (DLM) will take place from October 1st to October 5th, 2023 in the Hanover Youth Hostel. At the DLM, the various federal states, a maximum of 17, since Baden and Württemberg have separate state associations, compete against each other. The teams must be set up according to a certain key according to age groups and gender. Not every federal state is so well organized that it can get a team to start. However, the importance of the state championship has increased over the years and many very strong young people are taking part. This year there are 14 teams fighting over a total of 7 rounds for tournament victory. 
North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony are currently doing this best. NRW traditionally has a strong team. This is partly due to the high density of chess clubs in the populous state, and partly due to the good youth work. Good youth work is also being done in Saxony, where strong chess players are always coming from. Many of them have also played in DLM. So it is no wonder that these two teams share the top spot after 5 rounds with 8 team points each. NRW won the direct duel in round 3 with a clear 6-2, but suffered a heavy defeat against the strong Hesse in round 4.
The team from the heart of Germany is also doing very well so far with 7 team points, just like Schleswig Holstein, who are currently in 4th place due to their poorer points. 
A special focus is on the top players of the respective teams and for NRW that is definitely the 12-year-old Hussain Besou, who is already a strong FM with an Elo rating of 2353. The question always arises whether such a talent should enter such a youth tournament. The opponents point out the almost certain Elo loss, which is almost unavoidable when playing against underrated youngsters. The others, including the author of these lines, point out the tournament toughness that is acquired in such a tournament and is of long-term advantage. Besou seems to have seen it that way too, although his current result on board 1 with 1.5 out of 5 is more than annoying for him.
Vadim Petrovskiy from Hessen is doing much better on board 1. The strong international master who came to Germany from Ukraine only joined his team in round 2, but has won all of his games since then and is therefore at 4 out of 4.
There are still 2 rounds to play and with all the exciting tournaments that are currently taking place, it is definitely worth taking a look at Hanover where the German youngsters will compete against each other!
