Richárd Rapport


Richárd Rapport is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. As a chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 11 months and 6 days. This makes him Hungary's youngest ever grandmaster. He was Hungarian Chess Champion in 2017. He is one of the most original players in the world and often surprises with many unusual ideas and experiments early in the opening.

Early life

Rapport was born in Szombathely, to Tamás Rapport and Erzsébet Mórocz, both economists. He learned chess at age four from his father.

Titles

In 2006 he won the European Championships U10. Rapport achieved the National Master title in 2008, and became an International Master the next year. In March 2010, at the Gotth'Art Kupa in Szentgotthárd, he fulfilled the final norm and rating requirements for the Grandmaster title. He came in second on the tournament behind his trainer Alexander Beliavsky, and tied with Lajos Portisch. Thus, at the age of 13 years, 11 months and 6 days, he became the youngest ever Hungarian grandmaster, and the fifth youngest chess grandmaster in history at the time.

Chess career

2013

In May, Rapport tied for first in the Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament, together with Nigel Short and Nils Grandelius, winning on tiebreaks. He scored 4½/7.
In December, Rapport won the European Rapid Chess Championship and finished fourth in the European Blitz Chess Championship.

2016

From 20 to 23 December, Rapport won a match against 17-year-old Chinese player Wei Yi, held in Yancheng, China. At the time, Rapport was the highest rated junior player at 2717, and Wei Yi was the second-highest rated at 2707. They tied a match of four classical games with a win each and two draws, then tied a tiebreak match of two blitz games, winning one each. The final tiebreak of the match was an Armageddon game, which Rapport won with the black pieces by resignation.

2017

At the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in January 2017 he played his first game against Magnus Carlsen and won with white in 33 moves.
He won the Hungarian Chess Championship in May 2017.
He also won the tournament that was covered by Grandmaster Simon Williams in his show called Checkmate, finishing ahead of top seed Arkadij Naiditsch and World Championship challenger Nigel Short.

2019

Rapport won against Sam Shankland in their match, which was part of the USA vs. The World tournament.

Personal life

He is married to Serbian WGM Jovana Vojinović.

Playing style

Rapport often uses unusual openings even in official tournaments. One of the most common of these is the Nimzo–Larsen Attack, also known as Larsen's Opening.

Notable games

1.Nf3 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.c4 0-0 6.d4 d6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.b3 Ne4 10.Nxe4 Bxa1 11.Neg5 c5 12.e4 fxe4 13.Nh4 Bf6 14.Bxe4 Bxg5 15.Bxg5 Rf6 16.Re1 Qf8 17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.Bf3 a6 19.Qe2 Kf8 20.Bg4 Bxg4 21.Qxg4 b5 22.Re6 Qa1+ 23.Kg2 bxc4 24.Qf4+ Kg8 25.Nxg6