David Navara (born 27 March 1985) is a Czech

chess grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it h ...

, the highest-ranked of his country. Awarded the title of Grandmaster by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

in 2002, he is an 11-time national champion (in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2022).

Early life and grandmaster title

Navara's career progressed very quickly under coaches like Miloslav Vanka, IM Josef Přibyl, and GMs

Luděk Pachman Luděk Pachman (German: Ludek Pachmann, May 11, 1924 – March 6, 2003) was a Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and political activist. In 1972, after being imprisoned and tortured almost to death by the Communist regime in ...

and

Vlastimil Jansa Vlastimil Jansa (born November 27, 1942) is a Czech chess player. He was awarded the titles of International Master, in 1965, and Grandmaster, in 1974, by FIDE. He learned chess while in hospital at the age of eight and at fourteen, became the ...

, 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 Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

s, 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 The Rubinstein Memorial is an annual chess tournament held in Polanica-Zdrój, Poland in honour of the chess legend Akiba Rubinstein Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1 December 1880 – 14 March 1961) was a Polish chess player. He is considered to h ...

Adult career

Ranked 14th, he finished sixth in the 2004

European Individual Chess Championship The European Individual Chess Championship is a chess tournament organised by the European Chess Union. It was established in 2000 and has since then taken place on a yearly basis. Apart from determining the European champions (open and women's), ...

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

scoring 7½ points (+5−2=5), including a draw against the eventual champion

Vassily Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk ( uk, Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969), also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading ...

. This result qualified Navara for the 2005 FIDE World Cup, where he was eliminated by

Predrag Nikolić Predrag Nikolić (born 11 September 1960 in Bosanski Šamac) is a Bosnian chess grandmaster. Biography He first competed for the Yugoslav Championship in 1979, taking a share of second place. The following year and again in 1984, he went ...

in the first round. In 2006, at the

37th Chess Olympiad The 37th Chess Olympiad ( it, Le 37° Olimpiadi degli scacchi), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as we ...

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 Wijk aan Zee ( literally ''Neighborhood at Sea'') is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Coru ...

, where he replaced

Alexander Morozevich Alexander Sergeyevich Morozevich (russian: Александр Серге́евич Морозе́вич, translit=Aleksandr Sergéevich Morozévich; born July 18, 1977) is a Russian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE ...

. Navara, nicknamed ''Navara Express'' by organizers, gained 6½ points in 13 games (+3−3=7), including wins against

Ruslan Ponomariov Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov ( uk, Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in ...

and

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

(and draws with black pieces against

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Cha ...

Viswanathan Anand Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand (born 11 December 1969) is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former five-time World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988, and is one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of ...

and

Veselin Topalov Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; bg, Весели́н Александров Топа́лов; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chess International Grandmaster, grandmaster and former FIDE World Chess Championship, World Chess Champ ...

), and finished in 7th place. In August 2007 Navara finished first in the Ordix Open, a rapid tournament part of the

Chess Classic The Chess Classics were chess tournaments initiated by Hans-Walter Schmitt, they were organized in the years 1994 to 2010. Among other things, the world champions in rapid chess and - also under rapid chess time control - the world champion in Ches ...

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

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 Karlovy Vary (; german: Karlsbad, formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. It lies on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá. ...

, where he finished third, scoring half a point behind the winners, Ruslan Ponomariov and

Sergei Movsesian Sergei Movsesian ( hy, Սերգեյ Մովսիսյան; born 3 November 1978) is an Armenian chess player. He was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE in 1997. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team at the 2011 World Team Chess ...

. Two months later, Navara participated in the

FIDE World Cup The FIDE World Cup refers to three different events over the years. Since 2000, it has been a major chess event organized by FIDE, the International Chess Federation. Since 2005, it has been a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, formi ...

. He beat Alexander Ivanov of US in the first round and was defeated by

Sergei Rublevsky Sergei Rublevsky (born 15 October 1974) is a Russian chess grandmaster (1994). He has won four team gold medals and one individual bronze medal at Chess Olympiads. He won the prestigious Aeroflot Open in 2004, and became the 58th Russian chess ch ...

in the second round after tie-breaks. In 2007–2008 Navara played in the " Torneo di Capodanno" in

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abou ...

, Italy, scoring 3/8 (+1−3=4). He played in the

FIDE Grand Prix The FIDE Grand Prix is a biennial series of chess tournaments, organized by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon. Each series consist of three to six chess tournaments, which form part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship or ...

tournament in Baku in 2008, scoring 5½/13 (+2−4=7). At the 2011 Tata Steel Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Navara competed in the "B" group against other strong GMs like

Wesley So Wesley Barbossa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster and 3-time U.S. Chess Champion (in 2017, 2020, and 2021). He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was ran ...

Lê Quang Liêm Lê Quang Liêm (born 13 March 1991) is a Vietnamese chess grandmaster, the top-ranked of his country. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2006. Liêm is the current Asian champion and was the World Blitz Chess Champion in 2013. ...

Luke McShane Luke James McShane (born 7 January 1984) is an English chess player. A chess prodigy, he was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2000, at the age of 16. McShane has become one of England's leading players and a member of the national ...

Vladislav Tkachiev Vladislav Tkachiev (, born Moscow November 9, 1973) is a Russian-born Kazakh-French chess player. Biography In 1982, he moved to Kazakhstan with his parents and learnt to play chess a year later. A winner of the Kazakhstani Youth Championship in ...

Zahar Efimenko Zahar Oleksandrovych Efimenko (; born 3 July 1985) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Ukrainian team at the 2010 Chess Olympiad. Efimenko competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2005, 2009 and 2011. Chess car ...

, 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

; he lost to

Alexander Grischuk Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015). He has competed in five Candidates T ...

in the quarterfinals of the competition. The following year Navara won the individual gold medal on board two at the

40th Chess Olympiad The 40th Chess Olympiad ( tr, 40. Satranç Olimpiyatı), organised by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an open and women's tournament, as well as several events designed to promote the game of chess, took place in Istan ...

in Istanbul playing for the Czech team. He won the European

Blitz Chess Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz ...

Championship in 2014. In April 2018, he participated in the fifth edition of

Shamkir Chess Gashimov Memorial is a chess supertournament played in Azerbaijan in memory of Vugar Gashimov (1986–2014). Winners 2014 The Gashimov Memorial 2014 took place in the Haydar Aliev Centre in Shamkir City from 16 April to 30 April 2014, consisting o ...

, finishing tenth with a score of 2½/9 (+0−4=5). As of 2022, Navara won 9 national blitz chess championships, most recently the 2019 Czech Blitz Championship with a score of 14/15. Navara became European blitz chess champion for the second time in 2022, finishing with 17½/22 in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

ČEZ Chess Trophy

Since 2003 Navara has played several matches against top players in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

at the ČEZ Chess Trophy festival. {, class="wikitable sortable" style="margin: 0.5em 0 0 0;" ! Year !! Opponent !! Winner !! Result !! class="unsortable" , Notes !! class="unsortable", Reference , - , 2003 , ,

Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He ...

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Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, lv, Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994. He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classic ...

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Anatoli Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov ( rus, links=no, Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈkarpəf; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Che ...

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Boris Gelfand Boris Gelfand ( he, בוריס אברמוביץ' גלפנד; be, Барыс Абрамавіч Гельфанд, Barys Abramavich Hel'fand; russian: Борис Абрамович Гельфанд, Boris Abramovich Gel'fand; born 24 June 1968) ...

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Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the w ...

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rapid chess Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz ...

of which four games were

Chess960 Fischer random chess, also known as Chess960 (often read in this context as 'chess nine-sixty' instead of 'chess nine hundred sixty'), is a variation of the game of chess invented by the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer. Fischer announ ...

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Vasyl Ivanchuk Vasyl Mykhaylovych Ivanchuk ( uk, Василь Михайлович Іванчук; born March 18, 1969), also transliterated as Vassily Ivanchuk, is a Ukrainian chess player. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster, Grandmaster ...

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Judit Polgar Judit is a feminine given name related to Judith. Notable people with the name include: *Judit Bar-Ilan (1958–2019), Israeli computer scientist *Judit Elek (born 1937), Hungarian film director and screenwriter *Judit Földing-Nagy (born 1965), ...

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Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (russian: Пётр Вениами́нович Сви́длер; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian chess grandmaster and an eight-time Russian Chess Champion who now frequently commenta ...

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Hou Yifan Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and the second highest rated female player of all time.

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Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraWesley So Wesley Barbossa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster and 3-time U.S. Chess Champion (in 2017, 2020, and 2021). He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was ran ...

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Richárd Rapport Richárd Rapport (born 25 March 1996) is a Hungarian-Romanian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 11 months and 6 days, making him Hungary's youngest ever grandmaster. He was the Hungaria ...

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Pentala Harikrishna Pentala Harikrishna (born 10 May 1986) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He became the youngest grandmaster from India after attaining the title in 2001, a record now held by Gukesh D. He was Commonwealth Champion in 2001, World Junior ...

, Harikrishna , 5–7 , Rapid chess , , - , 2019 ,

Ding Liren Ding Liren (; born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachi ...

, Ding , 3–7 , Rapid chess ,

Notable games

Below is an excerpt from an article by

Lubomir Kavalek Lubomir (Lubosh) Kavalek ( cz, Lubomír Kaválek, August 9, 1943 – January 18, 2021) was a Czech-American chess player. He was awarded both the International Master and International Grandmaster titles by FIDE in 1965.Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 19 ...

in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' 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!? (A promising pawn sacrifice that became fashionable after the game Korchnoi–Udovcic, Leningrad 1967.) 8... cxd4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Nf3 Qb6 12. Qc2 (Purdy's choice. 12.Qa4 Qb4 13.Qc2 was also played in the past, but there is no need to improve the position of the black queen.) 12... h6 13. Bd2 (White finished his development and is prepared to seize the c-file with his heavy pieces. Some players prefer 13.Bf4.) 13... Nc5?! (Walking into a dangerous pin. Exchanging the bishops with 13...Bb4, leads to the weakening of the dark squares after 14.Bxb4 Qxb4 15.a3 Qe7 16.Rac1 0-0 17.Qc7! with an unpleasant grip.) 14. Be3! (Threatening to win outright with 15.Rac1. Black must do something about the pin.) 14... Qb4 (Another way to break the pin is 14...Qa5?!, but after 15.b4! Qxb4 16.Rab1 Nxd3!? 17.Rxb4 Nxb4 white's material advantage should tell in the long run. The game Zapolskis–Jorgensen, Dos Hermanas 2004, continued 14...Bd7 15.Rac1 Rc8 16.Qd2 Qd8 17.Bb1 Be7 18.Nd4 a6 19.f4! and after 19...f5 20.exf6 Bxf6 21.Bg6+ Kf8 22.Rxc5 Rxc5 23.Nxe6+ Bxe6 24.Bxc5+ Be7 25.Bxe7+ Qxe7 26.f5 Bf7 27.Rc1 Qd7 28.Qf4 Bxg6 29.fxg6+ Ke8 30.Qe3+ Qe7 31.Rc8+ black resigned.) 15. Be2 Bd7 16. Rfc1 Rc8 17. Nd4 Qa5 (After 17...Na4, the queen sacrifice 18.Qxc8+! leads to a powerful attack after 18...Bxc8 19.Rxc8+ Kd7 20.Rac1 Nc5 21.Ra8! with fairy-tale variations such as 21...Qxb2 22.Nb3! Qxe2 23.Bxc5 Qxa2 24.Bb6! Bd6 25.Rxa7 with white's advantage or 21...a6 22.b3! f5 23.a3! Qxa3 24.Bb5+ Ke7 25.Nxf5+ Kf7 26.Be8+ Kg8 27.Ne7+! Bxe7 28.Bg6+ Bf8 29.Rxf8+! Kxf8 30.Bxc5+ and white wins.) 18. a3 Qd8 19. Bb5! (Threatening to win with 20.b4.) 19... Ra8 (Abandoning the c-file leads to problems.) 20. b4 Na6? (A blunder, but after 20...Bxb5 21.Nxb5 a6 22.Nd4 Ne4 23.f3 Ng5 24.Qc7 Rb8 25.Nb3 Be7 26.Ba7 white should win.) 21. Nxe6! fxe6 22. Bxa6 b6 (A sad admission. White mates after 22...bxa6 23.Qg6+ Ke7 24.Bc5 mate.) 23. Qg6+ Ke7 24. Rc3 Qe8 25. Qg4 Kf7 26. Bd3 Kg8 27. Bg6 Qd8 28. Rac1 (Black can hardly move.) 28... a5 29. b5 (Another winning line is 29.Rc7, for example after 29...axb4 white deflects the black queen from the pawn on e6 with 30.Rxd7! Qxd7 31.Rc7! Rxa3 32.g3, since 32...Qxc7 allows 33.Qxe6+ and white mates; or after 29...Bc5 30.Qf3 Be8 31.Bf7+ Kh7 32.Qg4 Rf8 33.Bxh6! white mates soon.) 29... Bc5 30. Bxc5 bxc5 31. Rxc5 Qe7 32. b6 Rb8 33. b7 Qf8 (33...Rxb7 is met by 34.Rc8+!) 34. Rc7 Black resigned.

Other notable games include:
David Navara vs. Zdenko Kozul, 37th Chess Olympiad 2006, Sicilian, Richter–Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 8...Bd7 (B67), 1–0
Both sides are attacking, but Navara is the first to mate.
David Navara vs. Peter Svidler, 37th Chess Olympiad 2006, Queen's Gambit Declined Slav (D16), 1–0
A typical breakthrough 19.d5! and a nice mating

combination In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are th ...

ending the game.
Ivan Cheparinov vs. David Navara, European Team Chess Championship, Ruy Lopez
A spectacular and unexpected queen sac 27...Qf2
Alexander Moiseenko vs. David Navara, World Cup 2011, Queen's Indian Defense
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.
David Navara vs. Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Biel 2015, Sicilian, Najdorf Variation, English Attack
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.

References

External links

Official blog
– last updated in 2005 * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Navara, David 1985 births Living people Chess grandmasters Czech chess players Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from Prague