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David Navara
DavidNavara23.jpg
Navara in 2023
Country Czech Republic
Born (1985-03-27) March 27, 1985 (age 40)
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Title Grandmaster (2002)
FIDE rating 2719 (August 2025)
Peak rating 2751 (May 2015)
Peak ranking No. 13 (October 2006)

David Navara (born on March 27, 1985) is a famous chess grandmaster from the Czech Republic. He is known as the best chess player in his country. David became a Grandmaster in 2002. He has won the national championship an amazing 13 times! His wins were in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Early Life and Grandmaster Title

David Navara's chess journey started very fast. He had great coaches like Miloslav Vanka and IM Josef Přibyl. He also learned from Grandmasters Luděk Pachman and Vlastimil Jansa. As a young player, David won many medals in world youth chess events.

In 2001, when he was just 16, David joined the Czech national team. He played in the European Team Chess Championships and did very well. He scored 7 out of 9 points in his games. Just one year later, in 2002, he earned the top title of Grandmaster. This happened just three days before his 17th birthday! In 2003, he won the open section of the Rubinstein Memorial tournament.

David Navara's Adult Career

David continued to shine in the chess world. In 2004, he finished sixth in the European Individual Chess Championship in Antalya. He scored 7½ points, which included a draw against the champion, Vassily Ivanchuk. This good result helped him qualify for the 2005 FIDE World Cup.

In 2006, David played in the 37th Chess Olympiad. He scored 8½ points from 12 games against some of the world's best players. The next year, he was invited to a very important tournament called the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. He was nicknamed Navara Express by the organizers. He scored 6½ points in 13 games. He even beat famous players like Ruslan Ponomariov and Magnus Carlsen. He also drew games against Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, and Veselin Topalov. He finished in 7th place.

In August 2007, David won the Ordix Open. This was a fast-paced chess tournament that was part of the Chess Classic Mainz festival. He scored 9½ out of 11 points. The next month, he played in the Czech Coal Carlsbad tournament in Karlovy Vary. He finished third, just half a point behind the winners. Later in 2007, David played in the FIDE World Cup. He won his first game but was defeated in the second round after tie-break games.

David also played in the "Torneo di Capodanno" in Italy in 2007–2008. He scored 3 out of 8 points. In 2008, he played in the FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Baku, scoring 5½ out of 13.

At the 2011 Tata Steel Tournament, David played in the "B" group. He tied for first place with Luke McShane, scoring 8½ out of 13. Both players were invited to play in the top "A" group the next year. Later in 2011, David also played in the FIDE World Cup. He reached the quarterfinals but lost to Alexander Grischuk. The next year, David won a gold medal for his individual performance at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. He played on board two for the Czech team.

David won the European Blitz Chess Championship in 2014. In April 2018, he played in the fifth Shamkir Chess tournament. He finished tenth with 2½ out of 9 points.

By 2022, David had won 9 national blitz chess championships. His most recent win was the 2019 Czech Blitz Championship, where he scored 14 out of 15 points. David became the European blitz chess champion for the second time in 2022. He scored 17½ out of 22 points in Katowice. He successfully defended his European blitz title a year later in Zagreb, scoring 11½ out of 13.

ČEZ Chess Trophy Matches

Since 2003, David Navara has played special matches against other top chess players. These matches happen in Prague at the ČEZ Chess Trophy festival. Here are some of his results:

Year Opponent Winner Result Notes
2003 Viktor Korchnoi Navara 1½–½
2004 Alexei Shirov Shirov ½–1½
2005 Anatoly Karpov 1–1
2006 Boris Gelfand 2–2
2007 Nigel Short Navara 7–3 Ten games of rapid chess, with four games of 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 a tie-break game.
2014 Hikaru Nakamura Nakamura ½–3½
2015 Wesley So So 1–3
2016 Richárd Rapport Rapport 1½–2½
2017 Vasyl Ivanchuk Ivanchuk 4½–7½ Rapid chess
2018 Pentala Harikrishna Harikrishna 5–7 Rapid chess
2019 Ding Liren Ding 3–7 Rapid chess

Notable Games

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
Navara vs. Vaganian, Mainz 2009
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Final position

Here is a famous game played by David Navara. It was written about by Lubomir Kavalek in The Washington Post in 2009.

In this game, David Navara played against Rafael Vaganian. Navara used a strong pawn sacrifice in the French Defense. This move was first used over 60 years ago and is still very powerful. Vaganian had problems when he lost control of an important column on the board. Navara then used clever moves to win the game.

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 strong pawn sacrifice.) 8... cxd4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Nf3 Qb6 12. Qc2 12... h6 13. Bd2 13... Nc5?! (This move led to a dangerous situation for Black.) 14. Be3! (White threatens to win right away.) 14... Qb4 15. Be2 Bd7 16. Rfc1 Rc8 17. Nd4 Qa5 18. a3 Qd8 19. Bb5! (White threatens to win with 20.b4.) 19... Ra8 20. b4 Na6? (A mistake by Black.) 21. Nxe6! fxe6 22. Bxa6 b6 (Black had to make a sad move here.) 23. Qg6+ Ke7 24. Rc3 Qe8 25. Qg4 Kf7 26. Bd3 Kg8 27. Bg6 Qd8 28. Rac1 (Black could barely move any pieces.) 28... a5 29. b5 29... Bc5 30. Bxc5 bxc5 31. Rxc5 Qe7 32. b6 Rb8 33. b7 Qf8 34. Rc7 Black gave up.

Here are some other important games David Navara has played:

  • David Navara vs. Zdenko Kozul, 37th Chess Olympiad 2006 In this game, both players attacked, but Navara was the first to checkmate his opponent.
  • David Navara vs. Peter Svidler, 37th Chess Olympiad 2006 Navara made a key breakthrough move and then finished the game with a great combination of moves.
  • Ivan Cheparinov vs. David Navara, European Team Chess Championship David made a surprising and amazing queen sacrifice in this game.
  • Alexander Moiseenko vs. David Navara, World Cup 2011 After a long game, Navara offered a draw even though he was in a winning position. Earlier, Navara accidentally touched a piece, but Moiseenko did not make him follow the "touch-move" rule. Navara then outplayed Moiseenko.
  • David Navara vs. Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Biel 2015 Navara had a very special plan for this game. His white king even moved to the h8-square during the middle of the game, leading his pieces to victory!

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: David Navara para niños

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