David Navara meets Richard Rapport

by ChessBase
6/3/2016 – As part of the Čez Chess Trophy 2016 in Prague from 3rd to 8th June the "Best Czech Chess Player" David Navara plays "World Junior Champion Richard Rapport" in a four-game-match with classical time control. The spectacular venue of the match is the Michna Palace. But the duel of these top players is only one of many events of the Čez Chess Trophy 2016.

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By GM and "Blindfold King" Timur Gareyev

Over the past 10 years Čez Group has sponsored matches of seven-time Czech champion GM David Navara against some of the top players in the world. This weekend David will face Hungarian chess super-star GM Richard Rapport at Michna Palace.

 David Navara

Richard Rapport

Anticipating the match I wanted to find out if and how these two had played against each other before. To my surprise it appears that Navara has a perfect score of 3-0 vs Rapport! Here is the best fighting game:

 

Along with the spectacular match, the Čez Trophy event features the premiere of the “Chess Train” documentary by Maris Flabba, a blindfold simul on twelve boards by Timur Gareyev, and presentations by the legendary GM Vlastimil Hort and GM Robert Cvek.

Vlastimil Hort and Katerina Nemcova at the CEZ Trophy 2014

Among David’s previous opponents were Judit Polgar, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura and Anatoly Karpov. David won matches against Viktor Kortschnoi, Sergey Movsesian and Nigel Short and drew against Boris Gelfand and Anatoly Karpov. 

In 2014 David Navara played Hikaru Nakamura

In 2015 Navara's opponent was Wesley So. They even dared the skies with a balloon.

The venue of the match is the Michna Palace, an impressive Baroque palace, located in the south part of the Lesser Town, between Újezd and Karmelitská Street. Today, it is a residency of The Sokol Movement and of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport of the Charles University.

Michna Palace

No need to be afraid: Chess is fun!

I am truly excited to be part of the festival and play my exhibition match this Sunday. Prague is a wonderful city. My friend and partner in the blindfold chess journey, Jennifer Vallens, joined me in Prague to experience the festival and to take some cool pictures of the town.

Timur Gareyev draws on a “Beneficial Brick” to support a charity project

The finished masterpiece

Charles Bridge and Castle

GM Timur Gareyev and Jennifer Vallens, founder of “Off-da-Rook”

Beautiful Prague

More about the Chess Train Movie

The schedule and more information about the festival can be found at the tournament website


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