Born to a family of economists in 1996, Hungarian native Richard Rapport got into chess when his father was concerned about his lack of concentration in primary school. Shortly after an introduction to the game, Richard was hooked so much that his father became concerned that he was concentrating too much on chess. Rather than pulling him away, his parents embraced the enthusiasm by coordinating extended leaves from school to travel and play in tournaments.
Quite quickly, Richard’s success snowballed. At age 11, he became a FIDE Master. He earned his International Master title the next year. He picked up his 3 Grandmaster Norms in 3 consecutive tournaments. He earned his Grandmaster title at the age of 13 years and 11 months, making him the youngest Hungarian Grandmaster at that time to do so and the 5th youngest ever.
After acquiring the GM title, Rapport has only continued to grow, in 2016 (at the age of 20), he was the highest rated Under 21 player in the world with a 2717 rating - solidifying that by playing (and winning) a match against the number 2 junior in the world Wei Yi (rating of 2707).
In 2017, he played in the Tata Steel tournament where he faced Magnus Carlsen for the first time and beat him in 33 moves. Later that year, he won the Hungarian Chess Championship.
In 2022, he qualified for the Candidates Tournament by placing second in the 2022 Grand Prix event, he didn’t perform well in the Candidates, but he did act as Challenger Ding Liren’s second during the 2023 World Championship where Ding later defeated Ian Nepomniatchi.
The accolades and accomplishments are not why I enjoy Rapport, he has a unique and creative playing style. He is known for his unorthodox openings and his ability to create complex and unpredictable positions on the board. Sometimes - even at the detriment of his own position just exhibit interesting ideas. There are jokes that go around that Rapport looks to leave book/theory as soon as possible to just play chess and that is amazing to watch at such a high level. It is a rather high level of risk to play that way at such a high level.
This week, we are traveling to St. Louis during the 2019 Champions Showdown.
Richard Rapport versus Samuel Shankland
Now, if we’re ready… let’s begin.
1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. e3 c6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bd3 Be7
7. O-O O-O 8. h3 c5 9. a3 a6 10. Ne5 h6 11. Bf4 Nxe5 12. dxe5
Nd7 13. Qg4 f5 14. Qg6 Rf7 15. Qxe6 Nf6 16. Bxf5 Bxe6 17. Bxe6
Ne8 18. Nxd5 Nc7 19. Nxc7 Rb8 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7 21. Rad1 Qf8
22. Rd7 Rd8 23. Rfd1 Rxd7 24. e6+ 1-0
PGN:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1945766
Bio/Story:
https://en.chessbase.com/post/richrd-rapport-a-new-star-in-che
Links: