Czech Extraliga: Novy Bor dominates

by André Schulz
1/10/2023 – The Novoborsky SK, led by David Navara (photo), has dominated the Czech Extraliga for more than ten years. The team also leads in the season 2022/2023. Last weekend rounds five and six of the current season were played and with two wins Novy Bor managed to increase their score to 18:0 team points. | Photo: Chess Society Prague

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The first Czech league, the Extraliga, played its third double-header last weekend, 7 and 8 January 2023, with rounds five and six of the 2022-23 season.  For many, many years, the Novoborsky SK has been the top club for many, many years. Novoborsky SK is also a top club on the international stage, with several medal wins in the European Club Cup, including two gold medals, in 2013 and in 2022.

Novy Bor is led by Czech top player David Navara. A number of other Czech grandmasters form the core of the team, but international grandmasters also add strength to the team. No less than three Indian grandmasters play for the Czech club: Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi and Krishnan Sasikiran, though Harikrishna and Vidit have not yet played this season. Team manager and spiritus rector is Petr Boleslav, who is also the leading man behind the Prague Chess Festival (to be held again in June).

Other teams also feature strong international guest players, many from the neighbouring countries of Poland and Slovakia, but on the whole the teams are made up mainly of local forces.

The Czech team championship is played with 12 teams, which play a round robin. Each team consists of eight players. Each match win yields 3 points, but in case of a 4:4 tie both teams get 1 point.

In round 5 Novy Bor played against ŠK Líně and though they again played without their two Indian super grandmasters they came to a clear 6.5:1.5 victory.

The Sunday match against relegation candidate OAZA loznice.cz ended with the same result.

In this match David Navara demonstrated the aggressive potential of the Nimzoindian.

 
OAZ4 Straka Vojtech IM24240–1NOV3 Navara David GM2676
Czech Extraliga 2022-2023
Czech Republic08.01.2023[Schulz,A]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 The Sämisch Variation. White forces the bishop on b4 to declare itself. Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.f3 The main line is 6.e3 0-0 7.Bd3 Nc6 8.Ne2 b6 9.e4 Ne8 10.0-0 10.f4 f5 10...Ba6 and Black eyes the weak white pawn on c4 while White wants to attack Black's kingside. 6...Nc6 7.e4 d6 8.Ne2 b6 9.Ng3 h5!? 9...0-0 10.Be2 Ba6 11.0-0 Na5 12.f4 cxd4 13.cxd4 Bxc4 14.f5 h6 15.Bxc4 Nxc4 16.Rb1 e5 17.d5 Rc8 18.Nh5 Na5 19.Rb4 Rc3 20.Bd2 Rd3 21.Qc2 Rxa3 22.Nxg7 Kxg7 23.Qc1 Rd3 24.Bxh6+ Kh7 25.Bg5 Rg8 26.h4 Nb3 27.Qe1 Nc5 28.Kh1 a5 29.Rc4 b5 30.Rc3 Rxc3 31.Qxc3 Ncxe4 32.Qe3 Qc8 33.Rf3 Qc2 0-1 (33) Giri,A (2764)-Praggnanandhaa,R (2678) chess24.com INT 2022 More common is 9...Na5 e.g. 10.f4 0-0 11.e5 Ne8 12.Be3 Ba6 13.Bd3 Bxc4 14.0-0 f5 15.exf6 Nxf6 16.Qe2 Bxd3 17.Qxd3 Qd7 18.Rae1 Rae8 19.Bc1 Nc6 20.f5 exf5 21.Nxf5 Rxe1 22.Rxe1 cxd4 23.cxd4 d5 24.Qh3 Kh8 25.Rf1 Ne4 26.Rf3 Rf6 27.g4 Ne7 28.Nh4 Qa4 29.Rxf6 Qxd4+ 30.Be3 Qxf6 31.g5 Nxg5 32.Qd7 Ne4 33.Kg2 Nc5 34.Qc7 Ne6 35.Qb8+ Ng8 36.Nf3 Qg6+ 37.Kh3 Qe4 0-1 (37) Spassky,B (2625)-Huebner,R (2620) Turin 1982 10.h4 Qc7 11.Be2 d5 Attacking the knight on g3. White's kingside is rather exposed. 12.f4 After 12.e5 cxd4 13.cxd4? 13.f4∞ 13...Nxe5 14.dxe5 Qxe5 Black attacks White's knight on g3 and White's rook on a1. 12...Nxe4 13.Nxe4 dxe4 14.Be3 Ne7 15.g3 Nf5
16.Kf2 White has great problems to hold. Bb7 17.a4 0-0-0 18.a5 cxd4 19.cxd4 Rxd4 Or 19...e5 e.g. 20.axb6 axb6 21.fxe5 Nxe3 22.Kxe3 Rxd4 with the idea 23.Qxd4 Rd8 24.Qc3 Qc5+ 25.Kf4 Qf2+ 26.Kg5 Qxe2 and White will be mated. 20.axb6 20.Bxd4 Rd8-+ 20...axb6 21.Qb3 Rhd8 More precise was 21...Rd3! immediately, e.g. 22.Bxd3 exd3 23.Rhd1 Qc6-+ 22.Rhb1 Rd3 A bit more precise is 22...Rd2 23.Bxd2 Rxd2 24.Qxb6 e3+ 25.Kg1 Qxb6 26.Rxb6 Rxe2-+ with a mating attack. 23.Bxd3 Rxd3 23...Nxe3!? 24.Be2 Nc2 25.Qxc2 e3+ 26.Ke1 Qc6 24.Qxb6 Qxb6 25.Bxb6 Rxg3 26.Ra7 e3+ 27.Bxe3? Attacking the bishop on b7. But Black comes first. After 27.Ke2 White still had chances for a draw, e.g. Be4 28.Rc7+ Kb8 29.Rb4 Nd4+ 30.Bxd4+ Kxc7 31.Bxe3 27...Rf3+ 28.Kg1 Be4 29.Rba1 Rg3+ 30.Kf1 Nxe3+ 31.Kf2 Rf3+ 32.Ke2 Nf5 33.Rd1 Ng3+ 34.Ke1 Rf1+ 35.Kd2 Rxd1+ 36.Kxd1 Bb7 37.Kd2 Nf5 38.Kc3 Nxh4 39.Kb4 Nf5
0–1

The closest rival of Noby Bor is the team of Lysá nad Labem which defeated ŠK Dopravní podnik Praha 7:1 on Saturday and then narrowly defeated Siesta Labs Unichess 4.5:3.5 on Sunday. On board four for Lysá nad Labem played the well-known Czech grandmaster Vlastimil Jansa, who celebrated his 80th birthday last November. He won one game and lost one.

With five wins and one draw Výstaviště Lysá nad Labem is two points behind Novy Bor butthe two teams still have to play against each other.

Standings after six rounds

Rk. Team  Tb1 
1 1. Novoborský ŠK 18
2 Výstaviště Lysá nad Labem 16
3 GASCO Pardubice 13
4 ZIKUDA Turnov 13
5 BŠŠ Frýdek-Místek 13
6 Šachový klub Moravská Slavia 10
7 INGEM - ŠK Líně 8
8 Slavia Kroměříž 7
9 Siesta Labs Unichess 3
10 ŠK Dopravní podnik Praha 3
11 OAZA loznice.cz 0
12 Šachy Hošťálková 0

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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