David Navara
David Navara is a Czech chess player, the highest-ranked of his country. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2002, he is a nine-time national champion.
Early life and grandmaster title
Navara's career progressed very fast under coaches like Miloslav Vanka, IM Josef Přibyl, and GMs Luděk Pachman and Vlastimil Jansa, as he won several world medals in youth categories. In 2001, aged 16, he made his debut on the Czech national team in the European Team Chess Championships, where he scored 7/9 points. He received the title Grandmaster one year later, three days before his 17th birthday. In 2003, he won the open section of the Rubinstein Memorial.Adult career
Ranked 14th, he finished sixth in the 2004 European Individual Chess Championship in Antalya scoring 7½ points, including a draw against the eventual champion Vassily Ivanchuk. This result qualified Navara for the 2005 FIDE World Cup, where he was eliminated by Predrag Nikolić in the first round.In 2006, at the 37th Chess Olympiad he scored 8½ points from 12 games against world-class competition. The next year, Navara was invited for the first time into the supertournament in Wijk aan Zee, where he replaced Alexander Morozevich. Navara, nicknamed Navara Express by organizers, gained 6½ points in 13 games, including wins against Ruslan Ponomariov and Magnus Carlsen, and finished in 7th place.
In August 2007 Navara finished first in the Ordix Open, a rapid tournament part of the Chess Classic Mainz festival, with a score of 9½/11 on progressive score tiebreak. The following month, he played in the Czech Coal Carlsbad tournament in Karlovy Vary, where he finished third, scoring half a point behind the winners, Ruslan Ponomariov and Sergei Movsesian.
Two months later, Navara participated in the FIDE World Cup. He beat Alexander Ivanov of US in the first round and was defeated by Sergei Rublevsky in the second round after tie-breaks.
In 2007–2008 Navara played in the "Torneo di Capodanno" in Reggio Emilia, Italy, scoring 3/8. He played in the FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Baku in 2008, scoring 5½/13.
At the 2011 Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Navara competed in the "B" group against other strong GMs like Wesley So, Lê Quang Liêm, Luke McShane, Vladislav Tkachiev, Zahar Efimenko, and others. Navara tied for first place with Luke McShane by finishing with 8½/13. While McShane finished ahead on tie-breaks, both players received invitations to the top "A" group next year. Later in the same year, Navara also took part in the FIDE World Cup; he lost to Alexander Grischuk in the quarterfinals of the competition. The following year Navara won the individual gold medal on board two at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul playing for the Czech team.
He won the European Blitz Chess Championship in 2014. In April 2018, he participated in the fifth edition of Shamkir Chess, finishing tenth with a score of 2½/9.
In 2019, he won the Czech Blitz Championship with a score of 14/15.
ČEZ Chess Trophy
Since 2003 Navara has played several matches against top players in Prague at the ČEZ Chess Trophy festival.| Year | Opponent | Winner | Result | Notes | Reference |
| 2003 | Viktor Korchnoi | Navara | 1½–½ | ||
| 2004 | Alexei Shirov | Shirov | ½–1½ | ||
| 2005 | Anatoli Karpov | 1–1 | |||
| 2006 | Boris Gelfand | 2–2 | |||
| 2007 | Nigel Short | Navara | 7–3 | Ten games of rapid chess of which four games were Chess960. | |
| 2008 | Vladimir Kramnik | Kramnik | 2½–5½ | Rapid chess | |
| 2009 | Vasyl Ivanchuk | Ivanchuk | 2½–5½ | Rapid chess | |
| 2010 | Judit Polgar | Polgar | 2–6 | Rapid chess | |
| 2011 | Sergei Movsesian | Navara | 3½–2½ | Rapid chess | |
| 2012 | Peter Svidler | Svidler | 1–3 | ||
| 2013 | Hou Yifan | Hou | 2–2 | The games were drawn but Hou Yifan won the armageddon game played as a tiebreak. | |
| 2014 | Hikaru Nakamura | Nakamura | ½–3½ | ||
| 2015 | Wesley So | So | 1–3 | ||
| 2016 | Richárd Rapport | Rapport | 1½–2½ | ||
| 2017 | Vassily Ivanchuk | Ivanchuk | 4½–7½ | Rapid chess | |
| 2018 | Pentala Harikrishna | Harikrishna | 5–7 | Rapid chess | |
| 2019 | Ding Liren | Ding | 3–7 | Rapid chess |
Notable games
Below is an excerpt from an article by Lubomir Kavalek in The Washington Post on August 3, 2009:
In the following game, played in the Ordix Open, the Czech grandmaster David Navara defeats former top Armenian grandmaster Rafael Vaganian. Navara decides to test a powerful pawn sacrifice in the Tarrasch variation of the French defense. It was introduced into tournament play more than 60 years ago by the Australian Cecil Purdy, the first correspondence world champion, and it still carries plenty of punch today. Vaganian's problems began after he lost the battle of the only open file and allowed the Czech GM to claim victory with neat tactical play.
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nfd7 6. c3 Nc6 7. Bd3 Qb6 8. 0-0!? 8... cxd4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Nf3 Qb6 12. Qc2 12... h6 13. Bd2 13... Nc5?! 14. Be3! 14... Qb4 15. Be2 Bd7 16. Rfc1 Rc8 17. Nd4 Qa5 18. a3 Qd8 19. Bb5! 19... Ra8 20. b4 Na6? 21. Nxe6! fxe6 22. Bxa6 b6 23. Qg6+ Ke7 24. Rc3 Qe8 25. Qg4 Kf7 26. Bd3 Kg8 27. Bg6 Qd8 28. Rac1 28... a5 29. b5 29... Bc5 30. Bxc5 bxc5 31. Rxc5 Qe7 32. b6 Rb8 33. b7 Qf8 34. Rc7 Black resigned.
Other notable games include:
- Both sides are attacking, but Navara is the first to mate.
- A typical breakthrough 19.d5! and a nice mating combination ending the game.
- A spectacular and unexpected queen sac 27...Qf2
- After a long struggle, Navara offered a draw in a winning position. Earlier in the game, Navara accidentally touched a piece, but Moiseenko did not insist on the "touch-move" rule that would have lost him the game. Moiseenko was subsequently outplayed by the Czech GM, who with a forced mate on the board offered him a draw.
- An extraordinary home preparation by Navara that resulted in his white king heading to the h8-square during the middlegame, as the righteous leader of the commanding white forces.