David Navara

David is one of the most beloved and good natured players, who is always eager to answer questions and provide game analysis. He is an eight-time Czech Champion (in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017)  and the highest rated player in his country. He has won several medals in youth categories before receiving the title of  Grandmaster three days before his seventeenth birthday.

Navara has been board one of the Czech National Team since 2006, showing a great performance with 8.5/12 in the 2006 Chess Olympiad. His introduction to the elite tournaments happened in 2007, when he replaced Alexander Morozevich in Wijk an Zee challengers group. He tied for first in 2011, qualifying to group “A.” The same year he reached the quarterfinals in the World Cup, losing to none other than Alexander Grischuk. Since 2003, David has participated in several matches against top players winning against Sergei Movsesian and Nigel Short and drawing Anatoly Karpov and Boris Gelfand.  He reached his peak rating of 2751 in May 2015 and is currently number 18 in the world with a classical rating of 2738.