Richard Rapport vs Viktor Laznicka: 3:1

by Sagar Shah
10/4/2014 – In the past Richard Rapport had trouble to play against Viktor Laznicka. But in their six-game match in Novy Bor, in the Czech Republic, things seem to have changed. Now Rapport is the one who calls the shots and after four games he leads the match with 3-1. However, he was lucky that Laznicka failed to exploit the chances given to him.
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Rapport vs Laznicka: 3:1

After four games the score in the match between Richard Rapport and Viktor Laznicka is heavily in favour of the Hungarian: 3-1. This might give you the notion that the match is a pretty one sided affair. Quite the contrary! The games have been interesting and both sides had chances. But Rapport has been using his chances while Laznicka has been squandering them.

Two wins with black against such a strong opponent is a wonderful achievement

Laznicka - unable to convert superior positions in this match

We previously reported about Rapport's scintillating first round victory in which he made a double knight sacrifice. Let us see how the match progressed.

GAME 2

Rapport had the white pieces and began with 1.e4, which Laznicka answered with his customary Caro-Kann Defence. Laznicka is a Caro-Kann expert and thus Rapport chose to avoid theory with 5.Nc5 instead of the usual 5.Ng3.

5.Nc5!?

White did not get much of an advantage from the opening and the critical position was reached after White's 34. move.

Position after 34.Kg2

Here Laznicka could simply play 34...Ra8 with the killing threat of Ra1 and his position is plain winning. But Laznicka missed this opportunity and exchanged rooks instead. He still was much better but slowly and steadily his advantage withered away until the finally ended in a draw. Thus, in the second game Laznicka missed a good chance to equalise the match. Score: 1.5-0.5

 
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Nc5 b6 6.Nb3 e6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Bf4 Ngf6 9.c3 a5 10.a4 Be7 11.Bc4 0-0 12.0-0 Qc8 13.Re1 h6 14.h3 Qb7 15.Nbd2 Nd5 16.Bg3 Rfd8 17.Qb3 Bf8 18.Ne4 N7f6 19.Nxf6+ Nxf6 20.Bh4 Rdb8 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Nh4 Bh7 23.Be2 Qc7 24.Qc4 b5 25.axb5 Rxb5 26.b4 Rd8 27.bxa5 Rxa5 28.Rxa5 Qxa5 29.Bf3 Qg5 30.g3 c5 31.Rd1 Bc2 32.Ra1 Bh7 33.Ra7 Qc1+ 34.Kg2 Rb8 35.Rb7 Rxb7 36.Bxb7 Qb1 37.Ba6 Be4+ 38.Nf3 Bd5 39.Qe2 cxd4 40.cxd4 Qc1 41.Qe3 Qa1 42.Be2 f5 43.g4 fxg4 44.hxg4 Bg7 45.Kh2 Bxf3 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Rapport,R2713Laznicka,V2675½–½2014B18Novoborska sachova Corrida 20142

GAME 3

Rapport repeated his shrewd move order of game one and answered 1.d4 with 1...d6. This time Laznicka prevented 2...e5 with 2.Nf3. But now he no longer had the move f3 which he likes to play against the King's Indian and the Grünfeld. A few moves later a position of the King's Indian fianchetto variation was on the board. Rapport was the first to deviate from official theory with the provocative 13...Ncd7!? Laznicka reacted excellently and got a very nice position - but then came the fateful 24. move.

Position after 23...b5

Even though White is an exchange down, he has an excellent position thanks to his strong central passers on c5 and d5. Laznicka should have played 24.a4! with the better position. Instead he played the horrible 24.Qd4??. After 24...Re2 Laznicka realized that he had allowed the black rook to penetrate and White is lost. Unbelievable! Rapport showed no mercy and finished the game accurately. Score: 2.5-0.5

 
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1.d4 d6 1...Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 This is Laznicka's main weapon against King's Indian/Grunfeld. 2.Nf3 After getting burnt badly in the first game, Laznicka prevents e5 on the first instance. 2.c4 e5 is what happened in the first game. 2...Nf6 Rapport is now happy to resort to the King's Indian after he sees that his opponent has committed his knight to f3. After 1. d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 Laznicka's main weapon has been 3.f3 with as many as 20 games in it with white. So naturally Rapport feels more confident to play the KID when he sees a knight on f3 and not a pawn! 3.c4 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 We are now in the main line of the fianchetto variation of the King's Indian Defence. 8.h3 8.e4 is the main move but the game anyway transposes in to the main line. c6 9.h3 8...c6 9.e4 Qb6 This is one of the sharpest variations in the Fianchetto King's Indian. Black tries to put latent pressure on d4 and forces White to make a decision regarding the d-pawn. But of course moving it ahead to d5 or exchanging on e5 is in Black's favour and hence White tries to maintain the tension of as long as possible. 10.Re1 10.c5!? is another critical move in this position and one that was quite popular in the 80s and 90s. Soon Black found ways to equalise and this line died out. But I have a feeling that there are still enough tricks that are unexplored here. dxc5 11.dxe5 Ne8∞ 10...exd4 10...Re8 might not be such a great idea as it met with 11.d5! and the rook looks a little silly on e8. That explains why Rapport first takes on d4. 11.Nxd4 Re8 11...Ng4 is a very logical move in this position putting pressure on f2 and d4 but White has shown some decent results after 12.Nce2 12.hxg4 Bxd4 11...Ne8 was the old main line here. 12.Nb3 12.Nc2 Avrukh in his excellent book on 1.d4 recommends moving the rook one square ahead. 12.Re2 Qb4 12...Nxe4?! 13.Nxe4 Bxd4 14.Nxd6 13.Rc2 Nc5 14.Bd2 Qb6 15.Be3 and with some little moves, White is able to maintain control over the position. 12...Nc5 12...Ne5 13.b3 13.b4 13.Qxd6 Rd8 14.Qf4 Nd3 13...Ncd7!? I would like to call this a novelty but it has been played once before in 1991 between two unknown players. Did Rapport analyse this position at home or was this over the board inspiration? But bringing the knight to d7 has its own purpose, the knight would later want to go to e5 and put pressure on the c4 pawn. 13...Ne6 was previously played 14.Be3 Qc7 15.Qd2 White's play is quite simple here. 14.Qxd6 So is White a safe pawn up? Ne5 14...Ng4 15.c5 15.c5 Qa6 16.Bf4 16.f4 was a direct way to play. But then Laznicka would have had to analyse over the board, the very complicated variation starting with Bxh3!? 16...Nc4 17.Qd3± 17.fxe5 Rad8 18.Qc7 18.Bxh3 Rxd6 19.cxd6 Rxe5 20.Bf4∞ 18...Rd7 19.Qa5 Qd3 Black has some very dangerous counterplay. 16...Nh5 17.Bf1 Nc4 18.Qd3 It seems as if White is just better. The c4 knight if defended with Be6, then White would just play e5 consolidating his position. However, here Rapport comes up with a nice shot. Bxh3!? White is still doing objectively pretty well but imagine that you have to play this position without any prior preparation. It is really not easy. 19.Bxh3 19.Qxc4 Qxc4 20.Bxc4 Bxc3 19...Rad8 There is no safe square to move where the queen can keep the c3 knight defended. 20.Nd5 20.Qf3? Nxf4 21.gxf4 Nd2 22.Qe3 Rd3-+ 20...Nxf4 21.gxf4 Bxa1 22.Rxa1 cxd5 23.exd5 After some forced complications and only moves, we reach a position that is thoroughly imbalanced. At first sight it seems as if Black is doing excellently here. He has an exchange more for only a pawn and White's kingside is quite mangled. But looking closely, you realize that the central pawns on c5 and d5 are very strong and White has pretty good minor pieces on c2 and h3. At the same time the Knight on c4 is looking uncomfortable because it cannot really go to a safe square. All in all, Laznicka has calculated things pretty well till now and has the advantage. b5 A very committal move. Now White has two central passers and Black has to be really careful. 24.Qd4?? Throwing away the entire work in just one move. 24.a4 was definitely logical here. Qb7 25.Bg2 a6 26.axb5 axb5 27.d6+- With two such passers it's all over. 24...Re2! 25.Ne3 25.Qd3 Rd2 26.Qc3 R8xd5-+ 25...Nxe3 26.fxe3 Qa3 Suddenly black pieces are perfectly co-ordinated and the game is over. 27.Bg2? 27.d6 Rxe3 28.Bg2 Rd3 29.Qe4 a5!-+ is a little more complicated than the game continuation but Black is well on track to victory. 27...Re8! Rapport finds the most accurate move. 28.d6 R8xe3 29.d7 The pawn is just one square away from queening but the White king is just too weak. Rxg2+! 30.Kxg2 Re2+ 31.Qf2 Rxf2+ 32.Kxf2 Qb2+ 33.Kg3 Qc3+ 34.Kh4 g5+! A very important detail. If it were not for this move, then Black's victory would have been jeopardized. 34...Qd3 is also winning but its not so easy to find Black's moves. 35.c6 f5! 36.Rc1 Kf7 37.c7 Qf3-+ Such accuracy is a little bit difficult to find over the board. 35.Kg4 35.Kxg5 Qg3+ 36.Kf6 36.Kf5 Qh3+-+ 36...Qxf4+ 37.Ke7 Qe5+ 38.Kd8 Qb8+ 39.Ke7 Qf8+ 40.Kf6 Qd8+-+ 35...h5+ 36.Kxg5 Qd3 the d7 pawn falls and with it the game. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Laznicka,V2675Rapport,R27130–12014E69Novoborska sachova Corrida 20143

 

The post mortem analysis in which the commentators ask questions.

GAME 4

This was the most interesting game of the match so far. Once again we had a Caro Kann but this time Rapport played the Pseudo-Panov-Attack 1.e4 c6 2.c4!?

You can never guess what I am going to play! This time Rapport answered the Caro-Kann with 2.c4!?

It has been Rapport's strategy in this match to find offbeat variations in well-known theoretical lines. After ten moves the players reached a popular position but then Rapport played the relatively unknown 11.Bc4!?. Now Laznicka sacrificed a pawn but thanks to his pair of bishops he always had compensation for it, though Rapport could claim a slight pull. But White's position started to fall apart when Rapport let the enemy rook join the kingside attack with 23...Rg4! Though White was a pawn up, his position slowly started to go downhill. Laznicka played some fantastic moves and in mutual time trouble he reached a completely winning position.

Position after 37.Kg1

Laznicka had just to play 37...Qb7 here and it is curtains for White. Instead he went for the tempting idea of doubling rooks on the seventh rank with 37...Rg2 38.Kh1 Rff2 when White could defend with 39.Nf3! and Black is no longer winning.

Funny enough, but the very next move Rapport was the one who had an easy win and missed it.

Position after 39...Bg4

Black's last move was the horrible 39...Bh3-g4. White now had to simply play 40.Re8+ and after 40...Kh7 41.Ng5+ wins, and if 40...Kg7 then 41.Qc3+ with a win.

After Rapport's blunder Laznicka was able to save the position. Rapport had many more winning chances but he missed one after the other until the game finally was drawn: Score: 3:1.

 
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1.e4 c6 Laznicka sticks to his favourite Caro Kann Defense. Rapport has not been the most comfortable when facing it. 2.c4 The pseudo Panov Botvinnik. d5 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.exd5 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nxd5 6.Nf3 Nc6 6...Nxc3 7.bxc3 g6 Playing in Grunfeld spirit is also interesting. 7.Bb5!? This move is very interesting. Usually the bishop goes to either c4 or d3 in such lines but here it goes to b5 pinning the knight and creating threats like Qa4 and Ne5 in order to increase the pressure. Hence it will be better if Black forgets his ambitions of developing his bishop outside the pawn chain and plays the solid e6. e6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Re1 9.d4 0-0 10.Re1 is just a transposition. 9...0-0 10.d4 Bd7 11.Bc4!? It is possible that Rapport is following the idea of a fellow Hungarian player, Oliver Mihok. This puts pressure on d5 and forces Black to make a decision. 11.Bd3 was tried by Carlsen against Jan Smeets. Rc8 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Ne5 And here Carlsen recommends Nxe5 14.Rxe5 Bd6! 15.Rxd5 Bc6 With excellent play for Black. 11.Nxd5 was played by Ivanchuk against Topalov, But the game soon petered out into a draw. exd5 12.Bf4 Bf6 13.Ne5 Nxe5 14.dxe5 Bxb5 15.exf6 Qxf6 16.Qxd5= 11...Bf6!? This move shows that Laznicka has an excellent feel for such positions. He gives up a pawn but in return gets extremely active play. 12.Nxd5 12.Bxd5 exd5 13.Nxd5 Bg4 14.Nxf6+ Qxf6 15.d5 Ne5 Also retains a lot of pressure on White's position. 12...exd5 13.Bxd5 Bg4 14.Bxc6 bxc6 15.Be3! Rapport hangs on to his d4 pawn here and shows a lot of fighting spirit. Black's compensation does exist because of the bishop pair. But a pawn is a pawn. 15.Bf4 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Qxd4= should be close to equal. 15...Rb8 16.b3 c5 17.Bf4! The most accurate. 17.dxc5 Bxa1 18.Qxd8 Rfxd8 19.Rxa1 Bxf3 20.gxf3 White risks nothing here but I think Black's defensive task is also not so difficult as the pawns can be blocked. 17...Rb4 18.Be5 Rapport is playing very high quality chess and putting a lot of pressure on Laznicka to prove his compensation. cxd4 19.Qd2! coming out of the g4-d1 pin with a tempo. a5 20.Bxf6 Qxf6 21.Ne5 Though the material is equal, White has a stable edge because his pieces are much better co-ordinated. Bf5 22.Nc4 d3 23.Nxa5?! Rapport becomes greedy and allows the rook to be transferred to the kingside. Combined with the d3 pawn, Black's kingside attack is very dangerous. Rg4! 24.f3 Rg6 25.Nc4 25.Kh1 Bh3-+ 25...Bh3 White has to give back the pawn. Material balance is established and Black retains a dangerous kingside initiative. 26.g3 Qxf3 27.Re3 27.Qf2 Qa8 And it is difficult to play as White here. His king is just too weak. 27...Qb7 28.Rae1?! 28.Rxd3 was a better way to play. h5 28...h5 28...Re6! A move that Laznicka might have missed. Now the d3 pawn is untouchable. 29.Rxd3 White is a pawn up now and has these two wonderful queenside passers. But does it really matter? The Q on b7 is like a sniper targetting the light squared weaknesses and combined with the infantry i.e the Bishop on h3, Rook on g6 and pawn on h5, black has a rollicking attack. Even though the engines assess this position as equal, I would anyday prefer to be in Black's shoes here. Rf6 29...h4 was also a logical way to continue the attack. 30.a3 Not seeing anything much to do, Rapport tries to advance his queenside pawns. But it just shows that the initiative is with black. Qa7+ 31.Rde3 31.Qe3 Re8!-+ 31...Re8 Bringing the last piece into the attack. 32.Qe2 Ree6 The time pressure was approaching by this point. Both players had around 3 minutes left. In such a scenario it is very easy for White to go wrong here. 32...Rxe3!? was strong. 33.Qxe3 33.Nxe3 h4 33...Qb7! 34.Qe8+ Kh7 35.Qe2 g6 threat of Re6 is not so easy to meet. 36.Ne3 Qxb3 33.a4 Rf5! A very strong idea by Laznicka to double the rooks on the f file. 34.Qd3 Ref6 Six more moves to go before both players get 30 minutes and White has his back to the wall. Only thing left was to finish him off. 35.Nd2 g6! an excellent calm move. The rook on f5 can now move as there will be no mate on e8. 35...Rf2 36.Re8# is definitely something you want to avoid as Black. 36.Kh1 36.Qe2 Qa5 White is paralysed. Black can take his time to deliver the coup de grace. 37.Rd3 Qc5+ 38.Re3 Kg7! 39.Nc4 Qd5-+ 36...Rf2 37.Kg1 Rg2+ 37...Qb7! was quite strong. 38.Ne4 38.Re4 Rg2+ 39.Kh1 Rxd2 40.Qxd2 Qxe4+-+ 38.Qe4 Qxe4 39.Rxe4 Rxd2-+ 38...Rg2+ 39.Kh1 Rff2!-+ 40.Nxf2 Rxh2+ 41.Kxh2 Qg2# 38.Kh1 Rff2? 38...Rgf2 It was still not to late to repeat the previous position and find the winning Qb7 idea. 39.Nf3! Rapport is alert and takes his opportunity. Bg4? 39...Qb7? 40.Re8+! Kh7 40...Kg7 41.Qc3++- 41.Ng5+ Kh6 42.Rh8+ Kxg5 43.Qe3+ Kf5 44.Qe5+ Kg4 45.Qd4+ Kf5 46.Re5+ Kf6 47.Rc5+ Ke7 48.Qd8+ Ke6 49.Re8++- 39...Rc2 was the right way to play. 40.Re8+ Kh7 41.Ng5+ Kg7 and we see the benefit of Rc2. It controls the all important c3 square. Such ideas are not easy to be found when you have just seconds on your clock. 40.Qc3? 40.Re8+! It was a forced mate there. Kh7 40...Kg7 41.Qc3++- 41.Ng5+ Kh6 42.Rh8+ Kxg5 43.h4+ Kf6 44.Qc3+ Kf5 45.Qe5# 40...Be6! Last move before the time control and Laznicka doesn't mess it up. He finds the only move to defend his position. 41.Rxe6! Even though they got 30 minutes extra on their clock, Rappport thought for hardly 5 minutes to make his next move. That's confidence. fxe6 42.Rxe6 Once again this is the best practical chance in the position. 42.Qc8+ Kg7 43.Rd1 When seeing the game live, I felt that this move ought to be winning. The rook threatens to penetrate to d7 and the knight on f3 is doing the most perfect job of defending the White king. But Black has an amazing defensive resource. Kh6‼ mind blowing! Luring the White rook ahead so that Black can deliver the perpetual check. 43...Rxh2+? 44.Nxh2 Rxh2+ 45.Kxh2 Qf2+ 46.Kh3 Qf5+ 47.Kg2 Qe4+ 48.Kf2 Qf5+ 49.Kg1+- 44.Rd7 Rxh2+! 45.Nxh2 Rxh2+ 46.Kxh2 Qf2+ 47.Kh3 Qf1+ 48.Kh2 Qf2+= 42...Qf7? Laznicka messes up inspite of having time on the clock. This is a clear case where both the players are extremely tired. 42...Qd7 looked like a very natural defensive move. But White retains the initiative thanks to 43.Qe1! Now black has to find a series of only moves to maintain the balance. 43.Rxg6+ Kh7 44.Rh6+ Kxh6 45.Qh8+ Qh7 46.Qf6+= 43...Rxh2+! 43...Kf7 44.b4!± 43...Rxf3 44.Kxg2+- 44.Nxh2 Qd5+ 45.Re4 Rd2‼ Fantastic move threatening Rd1. 46.Qe3 Rd3 47.Qf4 Rd1+ 48.Kg2 Re1 49.Kf3 Qd3+ 50.Re3 Qd1+ 51.Kg2 Qd2+ 52.Kf3= What a variation. 42...Qg7 was the best defensive move. 43.Qc8+ Kh7 44.Qe8 Qa1+ 45.Re1 Qf6 45...Qg7 46.Re7 46.Re6 Qa1+= 43.Rd6? Rapport misses his chance and this one I think wasn't so difficult. 43.Rc6! Rxh2+ 44.Nxh2 Qd5+ 45.Nf3 Rxf3 46.Rxg6+ Kf7 47.Qg7+ Ke8 48.Qg8+ Qxg8 49.Rxg8+ Kf7 50.Rb8+- 43...Qe8! Now there is no way for White to win. And Rapport immediately realises this and makes a draw. 44.Qc4+ Kh7 45.Qc7+ Kh6 46.Qc1+ Kg7 47.Qc3+ Kg8 48.Qc4+ Kh7 49.Qc7+ Kh6 50.Qc1+ Kg7 51.Qc7+ A wonderful fighting game. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Rapport,R2713Laznicka,V2675½–½2014B10Novoborska sachova Corrida 20144

The fourth game was really interesting but also showed that both players are getting tired. Playing six games in a row without a rest day is tough.

A nice view for the spectators at the Restaurant Ajeto

Laznicka now has to win the last two games if he wants to level the score. This is not impossible. He only has to grab the chances his young Hungarian opponent is giving him.

All Pictures from the official website

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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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