Ukraine's NAVI beat Russian team in CS2 comeback to reach Beijing semifinals
Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere (NAVI) came from behind to defeat Russian team PARIVISION 2-1 in the Counter-Strike 2 quarterfinals at IEM Beijing 2026 on November 6, securing a place in the tournament's semifinals.
NAVI lost a closely contested opening map, Mirage, 14-16 after forcing overtime, but recovered to win Inferno 13-9 and Ancient 13-10, according to esports news outlet HLTV.
The team had taken a gamble by choosing Mirage as its opening map despite it being the weakest in its seven-map pool. PARIVISION built a commanding first-half lead before NAVI fought back, only to lose in overtime.
Ukrainian player Ihor "w0nderful" Zhdanov, 21, delivered a standout performance across all three maps, helping NAVI recover from the opening defeat. Fellow Ukrainian Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy made decisive plays in the closing stages of Ancient to secure the victory.
The result marks another step in NAVI's late-season recovery after a series of early tournament exits.
NAVI will face Mongolia's The MongolZ in the semifinals on November 7.
IEM Beijing runs from November 2 to 8, with a total prize pool of $1.25 million.
Founded in 2009, NAVI is one of Ukraine's best-known esports organizations. Its teams have won major international competitions, including Counter-Strike Majors in 2021 and 2024. Since Russia's full-scale invasion, the organization has also supported Ukraine's military, including a 5 million hryvnia ($120,000 at the time) donation toward unmanned ground systems in 2024.