Rapport vs Laznicka: A thrilling match

by Sagar Shah
10/8/2014 – Unorthodox chess, opening experiments, fighting spirit, a surprising comeback, and some blitz: the six game match between Richard Rapport from Hungary and Viktor Laznicka from the Czech Republic was entertaining and exciting to the last minute. After trailing 1-3 Laznicka won the last two regular games of the match but then lost the blitz tie-break.

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Rapport vs Laznicka: A thrilling match

After four games it seemed as if the match was over. Richard Rapport led 3-1. All he needed was one draw in the remaining two games to win the match. But the young Hungarian is a fighter and true to his aggressive and uncompromising nature he went for a win in the last two games. This helped Viktor Laznicka to stage a fantastic comeback and to level the score to 3:3 with back to back wins. But we would miss the point if we did not mention Laznicka's effort to change his style of play. In the first four games Laznicka went for theoretical setups in the opening. But in the last two games, with nothing to lose, it seemed as if the Czech player hardly cared about theory. He had one clear objective in mind: not to let Rapport take the initiative. Let us see how he managed to do so.

Game 5

Rapport usually arrived a few minutes late to the game

Rapport started the game in his usual style, meeting 1.d4 with 1...d6. But this time Laznicka did not go for an ambitious setup. He simply played 3.e3.

Then Laznicka simply developed his pieces and castled queenside. Rapport couldn't find good squares for his pieces and when Laznicka launched an attack with 14.g4! Rapport was in trouble.

Black's position deteriorated amazingly quickly and Laznicka chalked up an easy victory! After dominating the first four games, it was surprising that Rapport lost the fifth game almost without a fight. It also showed that Laznicka is a tenacious fighter.

 
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1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5 3.e3 Be7 4.Nc3 f5 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.Nge2 c6 7.f3 Na6 8.a3 Nc7 9.Qc2 g6 10.Bd2 0-0 11.0-0-0 Ne6 12.h3 exd4 13.exd4 Nh5 14.g4 Nhg7 15.Be3 fxg4 16.fxg4 Ng5 17.Nf4 N5e6 18.Nxe6 Bxe6 19.d5 cxd5 20.cxd5 Bd7 21.Kb1 Bf6 22.Ne4 Be5 23.Qd2 Qe8 24.Rhf1 Rxf1 25.Rxf1 Bb5 26.Bg5 Qd7 27.Bf6 Bxd3+ 28.Qxd3 Ne8 29.Bxe5 dxe5 30.d6 Kh8 31.Qd5 Ng7 32.Rf7 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Laznicka,V2675Rapport,R27131–02014A41Novoborska sachova Corrida 20145

Laznicka was in good spirits before the start of the last game

Game six

Now Rapport needed at least a draw in the last game. But instead of 1.e4, what he had played in his two previous games with White, he began with...

1.f4 - The Bird Opening

Laznicka must have thought for a little while about all classical responses such as 1...d5, or 1...Nf6 etc. but finally decided to play the symmetrical...

1...f5!!??

Such original play in the opening is fun for the viewers!

A brave decision by Laznicka, who tried to outfox his opponent's original and unorthodox play by playing even more originally and unorthodox. And he was quite successful as he emerged out of the opening with a nice though objectively equal position. The game would have most probably ended in a draw but Rapport decided to sharpen the play with a knight sacrifice.

The sacrifice on f5 was in the cards and Rapport doesn't miss such opportunities.

The sacrifice exposed the black king but objectively White had no more than a draw. The players even repeated the position twice and I guess 99 out of 100 people would have taken the draw to win the match 3.5-2.5. But not Rapport.

White just played Re2-e3 and continued the fight. Instead he could have repeated the position with Qe6-f5, after which Black has to parry the threat of Rxe7 with Kf7 when Qe6+ leads to a draw. After the text the game was still pretty unclear and White had his share of attacking chances. But at some point he lost the thread and liquidated into the following endgame.

This looks like a trivial win for Black. But on closer inspection, you notice that the bishop on e7 is totally hemmed in by the white pawns. The white rook will control the a-file, and if the black rook goes to the e-file, the white king will control its entry points from f2; if the black rook goes to the h-file, the white king goes to g2. The position is very difficult to win and maybe Black has no win at all. But Laznicka had nothing to lose and kept making moves hoping for a mistake from his opponent.

Which Rapport made. Here 72.Rh7 would have been good enough for a draw but Rapport played 72.Ra7, and now Black seized his opportunity with 72...Bb6! 73.Ra6 Bxd4+! 74.cxd4 Kd6! The fortress was broken and Black had excellent chances to convert the position to a win - which Laznicka finally did! An original opening, an interesting middlegame, and a wonderful endgame: the sixth game had it all. And with this win the match was tied at 3:3.

 
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1.f4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.b3 b6 4.Bb2 Bb7 5.Bxf6 exf6 6.e3 Na6 7.a4 Nc5 8.a5 g6 9.a6 Bd5 10.Nc3 Bf7 11.Bc4 Ne6 12.0-0 c6 13.Nd4 Nxd4 14.exd4 b5 15.Qe2+ Be7 16.Bxf7+ Kxf7 17.Nd1 Qb6 18.Qd3 d5 19.Ne3 Rad8 20.Rae1 h5 21.Rf2 Qxa6 22.Rfe2 Rd7 23.Nxf5 gxf5 24.Qxf5 Qc8 25.Qe6+ Kf8 26.Qf5 Kf7 27.Qe6+ Kf8 28.Re3 Qc7 29.b4 Qd6 30.Qf5 Rh6 31.c3 Rc7 32.Re6 Qd8 33.g3 Qe8 34.Rd6 Qf7 35.Rd7 Rxd7 36.Qxd7 f5 37.Re5 Rf6 38.Qxa7 h4 39.Qd7 hxg3 40.hxg3 Bd6 41.Qc8+ Kg7 42.Re8 Be7 43.Kf2 Re6 44.Qd7 Re4 45.Kf1 Qf6 46.Kf2 Re6 47.Kf1 Re4 48.Kf2 Qe6 49.Qxe6 Rxe6 50.Rc8 Kf7 51.Kf1 Rd6 52.Ra8 Rd8 53.Ra6 Rc8 54.Kf2 Ke6 55.Ra7 Kd6 56.Kg2 Rh8 57.Ra1 Rh6 58.Ra7 Rh8 59.Ra1 Re8 60.Kf2 Bf6 61.Ra7 Be7 62.Ra1 Rd8 63.Ra7 Rc8 64.Ra1 Re8 65.Ra7 Rh8 66.Kg2 Rf8 67.Kf1 Bd8 68.Kf2 Rh8 69.Kg2 Re8 70.Kf2 Re4 71.Rf7 Ke6 72.Ra7 Bb6 73.Ra6 Bxd4+ 74.cxd4 Kd6 75.Ra7 Rxd4 76.Rf7 Ke6 77.Rg7 Rxd2+ 78.Ke3 Rb2 79.g4 Rb3+ 80.Kd2 Rxb4 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Rapport,R2713Laznicka,V26750–12014A02Novoborska sachova Corrida 20146

BLITZ

Now a two game blitz-duel had to establish the winner of the match.

Rapport picks the black pieces in game one

The blitz game started within ten minutes of the sixth game. The time control was five minutes each with no increments.

Of course it is pointless to analyse the blitz games but I should bring to your notice the deeply analysed opening variation of the Sicilian Rapport employed with white in game two.

1.e4 c5 2.Qh5!!

Rapport won both blitz games and emerged as the champion of the 2014 edition of the "Novoborska Sachova Corrida".

 
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1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 d6 4.f3 Nd7 5.Be3 c5 6.Ne2 b6 7.Qd2 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bb7 9.Nc3 Ngf6 10.Be2 a6 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rac1 e6 13.Rfd1 Qc7 14.b4 Rfc8 15.Bf1 Qd8 16.Na4 Rab8 17.Nb3 Bf8 18.Qf2 b5 19.cxb5 Rxc1 20.Rxc1 axb5 21.Bxb5 Bxe4 22.Bxd7 Qxd7 23.Nb6 Qd8 24.a4 Ba8 25.b5 Nd5 26.Nxd5 Bxd5 27.Nd4 Qa5 28.Qc2 Ra8 29.Nc6 Bxc6 30.bxc6 d5 31.c7 Rc8 32.Qc6 Ba3 33.Bb6 Qa6 34.Rb1 Qd3 35.Rf1 Qa6 36.a5 Bb2 37.Qd7 Be5 38.Rd1 Bxc7 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Laznicka,V2675Rapport,R27130–12014A40Novoborska sachova Corrida 2014, tie-br7
Rapport,R2713Laznicka,V26751–02014B20Novoborska sachova Corrida 2014, tie-br8

 

(Left to right): Designer Ludmila Zhilkova, Richard Rapport with the winner's trophy, Viktor Laznicka and Roman Muzik.

The company Lasvit manufactured the glass trophy won by Rapport

 

All six games were interesting and both players deserve credit for their fighting play. Rapport's fine tactical strikes and Laznicka's tenacious attitude stood out in this match.

All Pictures from the official website

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

 


Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.

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