By GM 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 year Navara plays against GM Richard Rapport from Hungary.
The match began with a remarkable show: Rapport and Navara played a blindfold game against each other, a game, which was re-enacted live by humans in medieval costumes.
Preparations for the blindfold game Richard Rapport (left) against David Navara
Fierce action on the battlefield
Some of the fighters were really young…but very skillful!
Game over!
Rapport won the blindfold game and became King Richard.
But Navara did not seem to lose his sense of humor.
The blindfold game attracted a lot of spectators. One of them was Sergey Movsesian
who enjoys a laugh with the drummer from the Stiavnica Living Chess crew.
After the entertainment of the blindfold game the classical games began. The first game brought some good solid chess and ended in a draw. But in round two David came out fighting. However, Richard defended well and tried to make use of his counterattacking opportunities. But in the end Navara was able to hold and the second game also ended in a draw.
Saturday evening participants and spectators of the festival went to the Ponrepo Theater to see the movie about the Chess Train tour the Prague Chess Society organizes each year. The movie was created by Estonian producer Maris Flabba and her crew.
https://vimeo.com/166728987?ref=fb-share&1
If you want to join the Chess Train tour in October this year, you got to rush because only a few tickets are left. For more information contact the Prague Chess Society!
Last but not least, let me share a game and a couple of images from my blindfold match. This was a particularly thrilling event, since we are planning to host the World Record Event in the Czech Republic in December. The match went great and I won with 10 out of 12. Here's one of the games.
As you see in this picture, I like to spin a stationary bike when I play blindfold chess. This enhances the blood-flow and gives me a sense of energy and flow. During the four hour event I biked about 38 kilomiteres and burned 800 calories. I imagine I burned at least that many calories in brain power as well.
Anežka Kružíková is the photographer for the Prague Chess Society and shared the amazing images from the event!
Ahoj from Prague!
The schedule and more information about the festival can be found at the tournament website.
