The second round of the European chess championship in Jerusalem already brought collisions between many of the 112 participating grandmasters and therefore no sensational upsets were witnessed, at least not of the kind we saw in round one. By the end of round two 25 GMs and a single IM were still clinging to a perfect 2.0/2 score. Russian GM Alexander Motylev, the current European champion, won both his games but six other former champions already dropped half a point each.

Reigning champion Alexander Motylev has had a good start
Among the top scoring players top-seed David Navara (2735) was playing uncharacteristically aggressive, no-holds-barred chess that seemed a lot more reminiscent of Tal. Consider the opening of his game in round one.

David Navara is black and this is what the position looked like after just
seven moves with 6...h5 (a novelty) and 7...h4. Hardly typical.
The opening was quite cutthroat as you can see, but it did not quite end in a bang (nor a whimper). Black emerged with a classic Fischer Ending and duly converted.
Rui Damaso - David Navara:
1.e4 | 1,185,008 | 54% | 2421 | --- |
1.d4 | 959,510 | 55% | 2434 | --- |
1.Nf3 | 286,503 | 56% | 2441 | --- |
1.c4 | 184,834 | 56% | 2442 | --- |
1.g3 | 19,892 | 56% | 2427 | --- |
1.b3 | 14,600 | 54% | 2428 | --- |
1.f4 | 5,954 | 48% | 2377 | --- |
1.Nc3 | 3,911 | 50% | 2384 | --- |
1.b4 | 1,791 | 48% | 2379 | --- |
1.a3 | 1,250 | 54% | 2406 | --- |
1.e3 | 1,081 | 49% | 2409 | --- |
1.d3 | 969 | 50% | 2378 | --- |
1.g4 | 670 | 46% | 2361 | --- |
1.h4 | 466 | 54% | 2382 | --- |
1.c3 | 439 | 51% | 2425 | --- |
1.h3 | 289 | 56% | 2420 | --- |
1.a4 | 118 | 60% | 2461 | --- |
1.f3 | 100 | 47% | 2427 | --- |
1.Nh3 | 93 | 66% | 2506 | --- |
1.Na3 | 47 | 62% | 2476 | --- |
Please, wait...
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.d4 e6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qb3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 h5 7.e4 h4 8.Qa4? 8.e5! Ng4 9.Bh3 f5 10.exf6 Nxf6 11.Qd3 hxg3 12.hxg3 8...Bb7 9.d5 hxg3! 10.dxc6? Bxc6 11.Qc2 gxf2+ 12.Ke2 12.Kxf2 Ng4+ 13.Ke1 Qf6 12...Nh5 13.Nb3 Ng3+ 14.hxg3 Rxh1 15.Kxf2 Rxf1+ 16.Kxf1 Qf6 17.Nbd4 Bb7 18.e5 Qe7 19.Bg5 f6 20.exf6 gxf6 21.Qg6+ Qf7 22.Qxf6 Qxf6 23.Bxf6 c5! 24.Nxe6 dxe6 25.Ne5 Be7 26.Bxe7 Kxe7 27.Rd1 Kf6 28.Ng4+ Kf5 29.Ne3+ Ke4 30.Ke2 Rg8 31.Rd6 Bc8 32.Nf1 e5 33.Nd2+ Kf5 34.Nf1 e4 35.Rh6 Ke5 36.Ke3 Bg4 37.Rh4 Bf3 38.Rh2 Rd8 39.Rd2 Rd4 40.b3 a5 41.Nh2 Bd1 42.g4 a4 43.bxa4 Bxa4 44.g5 Rxc4 45.Ng4+ Kf5 46.Nh6+ Kxg5 47.Nf7+ Kf6 48.Nd6 Rb4 49.Nxe4+ Ke5 50.Nc3 Bc6 51.Rh2 Bd7 52.Rh8 Bf5 53.Re8+ Kd6 54.Rf8 Ke6 55.Rb8 Kd7 56.Rf8 Be6 57.Rf4 Kc6 58.Rxb4 cxb4 59.Nd1 Kb5 60.Nb2 Bxa2 61.Kd2 Kc5 62.Kc2 Kd4 63.Nd1 Be6 64.Nf2 Ke3 65.Nd1+ Ke2 66.Nb2 b5 67.Nd1 Bf5+ 68.Kc1 Kd3 69.Nf2+ Kc3 70.Nd1+ Kb3 71.Ne3 Be4 72.Nd1 Ka2 73.Nb2 b3 74.Nd1 Ka1 0–1 - Start an analysis engine:
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Damaso,R | 2451 | Navara,D | 2735 | 0–1 | 2015 | E15 | 16th ch-EUR Indiv 2015 | 1.1 |
Please, wait...
A special guest was GM Alik Gershon who replaced GM Ronen Har-Zvi at the live commentary studio. He plays very little these days though the local chess community still remembers his double world junior championship title (for under-14 in 1994 and under-16 in 1996) as well as his magnificent world record for simultaneous display in 2010 when he played in the centre of Tel-Aviv against 523 opponents at the very same time.

Though David Navara (2735) is listed as the top seed, it should be noted that it might be due
to alphabetical order since 'second' seed Nikita Vitiugov (left) shares the exact same rating.

Vitiugov was unable to keep a 100% score and was replaced by Pavel Eljanov (right) on board two

A great portrait of GM Semen Dvoirys
Round two showed an even wilder game by David Navara, this time against a far stronger opponent, Mircea-Emilian Parligras (2583), and if you thought the bullying the Czech showed in round one would be restrained, think again.

David Navara has been living up to his top-billing so far with steamroller chess
Navara's spectacular win against Parligras:
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.e5 Ne4 6.Nf3 Nxc3 7.dxc3 Be7 8.Bd3 Nd7 9.Qc2 g6 10.e6! fxe6 11.Bh6 Bf6 12.0-0-0 Qe7 13.Rhe1 Nc5 14.g4! Bd7?! 14...Rg8 15.g5 Bg7 16.Bxg6+! hxg6 17.Qxg6+ Kf8 18.Rxd5! Bxh6? 18...-- 19.Rxc5! Qxc5 20.Qxg7+ 19.Rf5+! exf5 20.Rxe7 Kxe7 21.Qf6+ Ke8 22.Qxh8+ Bf8 23.g6 Ne6 24.Ng5 Ke7 25.Nxe6 Bxe6 26.g7 Bxa2 27.c4‼ 27.c4 Bxc4 27...Bxg7 28.Qxg7+ Kd6 29.Qc3 27...Bb3 28.g8Q 28.Qh4+ Kd6 29.gxf8Q+ Rxf8 30.Qxc4 1–0
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Navara,D | 2735 | Parligras,M | 2583 | 1–0 | 2015 | A18 | 16th ch-EUR Indiv 2015 | 2.1 |
Please, wait...
The guest of honour of the day was Israel’s No.1 Boris Gelfand who joined the team of commentators for a short session. He evaluated the top boards and answered a couple of questions by the interviewer GM Alon Greenfeld.

GM Alon Greenfeld interviews Boris Gelfand
Gelfand expressed his positive view about the spacious venue and the decent playing conditions and even referred to the question that many have raised: Why doesn’t he take part in the European championship? He said that he had indeed considered his participation, however the series of top tournaments he had played at the end of last year and the super tournaments he is invited to starting as of April demand a serious time out for recuperation and revision of his theoretical repertoire.

Emil Sutovsky

Veteran Alexander Beliavsky
In the third round a couple of sharp and fascinating battles were witnessed which left at the end of the day just five grandmasters with a perfect score: Navara (Czech Republic), Y. Vovk and Korobov (Ukraine), Najer (Russia) and Lupulescu (Romania). No fewer than 37 players had dropped just half a point each.

The plush playing hall
Standings after three rounds
Click for complete standings
Report by Yachanan Afek and Albert Silver
Photos by Yoav Nis