The story of Richard Rapport is truly remarkable. While classical chess players emerged from countries not known for chess, the heir to the great Hungarian chess school seemed closer to a paradox, deliberately going against the grain and choosing his own path. Could he have achieved more by following convention? Even Richard himself doesn’t know the answer.
Richard (or Rihard) was born on March 25, 1996, into a family of provincial economists. His father taught him chess at the age of four, and by ten, thanks to his early successes, he entered a prestigious chess school in the capital, which gave his career a significant boost. Rapport won the European Championship in the under-10 category, earned the title of National Master at twelve, and by the age of 13 years, 11 months, and 6 days, he became a grandmaster. He achieved his final norm in a tournament alongside his coach, Beliavsky, and Hungarian legend Portisch, solidifying his status as a chess prodigy.
However, Rapport never managed to win the World Junior Championship—he often lost crucial games, and in 2012, despite tying for 1st-2nd place (10/13), the tiebreak cost him the title. Nevertheless, his games always drew large crowds—no one could figure out what was happening on the board! Playing in this style, he won the “B” group in Wijk aan Zee in 2013 (9/13), Malmö (4.5/7), and posted several striking performances in strong open tournaments. However, in the main Wijk aan Zee tournament in 2014, he predictably faltered with a score of 3.5/11. His next appearance in the Netherlands in 2017 ended in another brilliant failure (4.5/13), but one of his victims, lost in Rapport's complexities, was none other than Magnus Carlsen. Just a month earlier, Richard had defeated Wei Yi in a "match of hopes" after a tiebreak; both classical and blitz games ended in a 3-3 draw.
Interestingly, after that Wijk aan Zee, Rapport made a decisive shift in his playing style. He greatly improved his stability, and within five years, this led him to a rating of 2776 and 5th place in the world! Along the way, there were notable achievements: a quarterfinal finish in the 2017 World Cup (losing to Ding Liren), a strong showing in Isle of Man (6.5/9, with Carlsen taking 1st place), victories in Gibraltar (7.5/10) in 2018, and Danzhou (4,5/7) in 2019. He missed out on the 2020/21 Candidates Tournament due to COVID but qualified for the next one by finishing second in the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix "bubble" event. He was considered a serious contender for the win.
Unfortunately, the tournament that held so much promise for Rapport didn’t go his way. He finished second in Wijk aan Zee 2022 (8/13), losing only to Carlsen, but struggled in Madrid. In the first six games, he couldn’t secure a win, lost to Nepomniachtchi with White in the seventh round, and unraveled from there, finishing in 7th-8th place with a score of +1–4=9. He did get a form of revenge on Nepo, though, when he surprisingly became Ding Liren’s second in the 2022 World Championship match against the Russian, helping Ding become the new world champion.
Interestingly, after the match in Dubai, Rapport’s ambitions for the world title seemed to evaporate. He drastically reduced his playing activity, and his results began to decline. In just over a year, Richard lost more than 60 rating points and no longer seemed driven to become world champion. In 2023, he declined to participate in the World Cup and scored only 6/11 in the FIDE Grand Swiss. At 28, Rapport is still highly experienced and very strong, continuing to assist Ding Liren, but his own career appears to be at a standstill.
