Richárd Rapport (born 25 March 1996) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. A
chess prodigy
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance. It is played on a square board consisting of 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to ...
, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 11 months, and six days, making him Hungary's youngest ever grandmaster. He was the Hungarian Chess Champion in 2017 and was the fifth-rated player in the world in May 2022.
Early life
Rapport was born in
Szombathely
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Szombathely (; ; also see #Etymology, names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas County in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by the streams ''Perint'' and '' ...
, Hungary, 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
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...
the next year. In March 2010, at the Gotth'Art Kupa in
Szentgotthárd
Szentgotthárd () is the westernmost town of Hungary. It is situated on the Rába River near the Austrian border.
History
The town took its name from, and grew up round, the Cistercian Szentgotthárd Abbey, founded here in 1183.
In 1664, it was ...
, 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
Lajos Portisch (born 4 April 1937) is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated in twelve c ...
(one of the strongest non-Soviet players in the second half of the 20th century). Thus, at the age of 13 years, 11 months and 6 days, he became the youngest ever Hungarian grandmaster (the previous record was held by former world title challenger Péter Lékó), 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
Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...
and Nils Grandelius, winning on tiebreaks (head-to-head result). He scored 4½/7 (+3−1=3).
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
Yancheng (), formerly known as Yandu, is a prefecture-level city in the eastern coastal Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. As the city with the largest jurisdictional area in Jiangsu, Yancheng borders Lianyungang to the north, Huai' ...
, China. At the time, Rapport was the highest rated ''junior'' (under 21) 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
Armageddon ( ; ; ; from ) is the prophesied gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, according to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Armageddon is variously interpreted as either a literal or a ...
game, which Rapport won with the black pieces by resignation.
2017
At the
Tata Steel Chess Tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament is an annual chess tournament held in January in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. It was called the Hoogovens Tournament from its creation in 1938 until the sponsor Koninklijke Hoogovens merged with British Ste ...
in January 2017 he played his first game against
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
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
Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...
.
2019
Rapport won against Sam Shankland in their match, which was part of the USA vs. The World tournament.
2020
Rapport won the 11th Danzhou Tournament. He was the only player to remain undefeated and finished half a point ahead of GM Ding Liren.
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
, Serbia.
That performance, together with reaching the semi-finals in the first leg, was enough to clinch a top-two spot in the Grand Prix and qualify for the
2022 Candidates Tournament
The 2022 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2023. The tournament took place at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid, Spain, from June 16 to July 5, 2022,Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023, in which he had a rough start by losing to chess prodigy Nodirbek Abdusattorov and later losing to World Champion
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
. However, he came back to defeat Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, and later in round 12 snatched a victory against the World No. 2 Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren. Rapport finished the tournament placing 8th out of 14 with a score of 6½/13.
Rapport also played the role of Ding's during the World Chess Championship 2023, in which Ding won against Ian Nepomniachtchi.
2024
Rapport played the role of Ding's
Second
The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...
Gukesh Dommaraju
Gukesh Dommaraju (born 29 May 2006) is an Indian chess grandmaster and the reigning World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, Gukesh is the youngest undisputed world champion, the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE rating of 2750, doing s ...
.
National Federation
In May 2022, Rapport announced his intention to switch federations and represent Romania, as part of a sponsorship deal with Serbian-owned ''Superbet Romania''.https://www.chessdom.com/breaking-richard-rapport-changes-federation-to-romania/ BREAKING: Richard Rapport changes federation to Romania It was officially announced that he would be switching federations in September 2022.
In May 2024, it was announced that he was switching back to representing Hungary.
Personal life
He has lived in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
,
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
, since the age of 18, where his wife Jovana Vojinović, a Woman Grandmaster, is from. They
married
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
in 2016.
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. He plays aggressively, normally playing for a win with both White and Black and is considered one of the more exciting players to watch.