Czech Extraliga: 102 match streak comes to an end

But what a streak!

The team of Novy Bor is actually the long-time favourite in the Czech Extraliga but they suffered a setback last Sunday in the 4th round of the 2018/19 season. Although they were almost a full strength — P. Harikrishna and Vidit were absent, but the other top players Nikita Vitiugov, David Navara, Markus Ragger, Krishnan Sasikiran and Victor Laznicka were there — the league champs were surprisingly defeated by the team "Vystaviste Lysa nad Labem", led by Ukrainian GM Ruslan Ponomariov.

For Novy Bor, this was the first defeat after 102 matches in a row in the Czech Extraliga — an incredible series.

It turns out the team did yield a handful of draws during the streak, but it's still impressive

As in the Bundesliga, eight boards are played in the Czech Extraliga. In this fateful match, seven games ended in a draw, and the lone decision came on the first board where Ponomariov defeated Vitiugov.

The Solid Slav Defence

This Slav DVD is a complete opening repertoire for black after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6. GM Nick Pert has played the Slav defence for over 10 years and provides all his latest and most up to date analysis crammed into one video series. Nick has spent many hours studying the best Slav lines, and he explains his favourite variations, plus includes some interactive clips where the viewer is tested on a range of theoretical questions and tactics arising from Slav games.

Ruslan Ponomariov faces Nikita Vitiugov (right, adjacent to the wall) | Photo: Radim Borůvka

The famous Czech model Aneta Vignerova made an appearance for the ceremonial first move for Bartolomiej Heberla. Vignerova became 'Miss Czech' at the age of 21 and took part in the Miss World competition of 2009.

The players of the match Moravská Slavia vs Labortech Ostrava looked forward to a nice visit as Aneta Vignerova opened the competition

Standings after Round 4

All games Rounds 1-4

Correction, December 7: Grandmaster David Navara informs us that there were "about 10 drawn 4:4" matches during the streak, adding, "nevertheless, this is (or was) an extraordinary series!"

Links

• Official site
• Full results (Chess-results)