Establishing Rapport

Richard Rapport took first place at the Fide Grand Prix in Belgrade last weekend. The Hungarian grandmaster is now almost assured of a place in the Candidates tournament in Madrid later this year, which will determine a challenger for the World Championship. Only a very unlikely outcome at the final Grand Prix event (which begins in Berlin next week) would see him knocked out of the cycle.

Rapport is popular with fans for his rich imagination and penchant for offbeat openings. In the past, that sometimes made for erratic results, but a newfound consistency has propelled him into the world’s top ten. The diagram position shows the critical moment from the final match. Rapport could repeat moves with 30 Qe3, leading to a draw by repetition in light of the previous moves. Instead he used up nearly all his time and chose the ambitious 30 Qe5. Though it allowed Andreikin’s knight into d2, Rapport saw that need not interrupt his attack.

Richard Rapport-Dmitry Andreikin

Fide Grand Prix, Belgrade, March 2022

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 a6 4 cxd5 exd5 5 a3 h6 6 Bf4 Nf6 7 e3 c5 8 Be5 Be6 9 Nge2 Nc6 10 Nf4 cxd4 11 Bxd4 Nxd4 12 Qxd4 Bd6 13 g3 Rc8 14 Rd1 Qa5 15 Rc1 O-O 16 Nxe6 fxe6 17 Bh3 Kf7 18 O-O Rc4 19 Qd3 Be5 20 Ne2 Rfc8 21 Rxc4 Rxc4 22 b4 Qa4 23 Nf4 Bxf4 24 exf4 Qc6 25 Qe3 Ne4 26 f3 Rc3 27 Qd4 Rc4 28 Qe3 Rc3 29 Qd4 Rc4 (see diagram) 30 Qe5 Nd2 Placing the queen on e3 was safer. Now if 31 Rf2 Rc1+ 32 Kg2 Nc4! Black gains a decisive advantage, e.g. 33 Qd4 Rd1! 34 Qa7 d4.