Rapport with some beautiful moves! - European Club Cup 2016

"Beauty in Chess is...and ever shall be associated with visual effects" - Tartakover

Commenting on that great game Lasker - Napier, Gerald Abrahams wrote, ".....a piece of Chess in which, once an imbalance is created, the quantity of material seems to remain irrelevant. Development is preferred to recapturing. After the battle, the counting of survivors!"

However, in the game between Aronian - Rapport, in ECC 2016, it is not just about the material shed....but....the way it was shed.....why even the way the game commenced....!

Richard Rapport is known for playing godforsaken lines.....and this one arose out of Chigorin.... named after the Russian Chess God!

Position after 27.....Rh1!!

How come that Rook which was sitting on h8 landed on h1!?

Well, Tartakover also said that the "mistakes can only be made by a strong player"....and Aronian surely must have tread some inappropriate path for landing in such a position....where Black had more than one way!

Let us go back a little.....

15.....Bf5!

A nice move which removes White's potentially good piece.

16.Bf5 Rf5 17.Ng5?!

A mistaken Knight move which succeeds only in conceding the nice e5-square for Black's Knight... jeopardising the d3, f3 and g4 squares.The position is possibly in equilibrium and White must just remain.... holding on to the key squares....But already he has done some damage by pushing his h-pawn forward, in quest of an illusory attack and the craving for holding on to that extra pawn....which Rapport sacrificed for initiative.

17.....Ne5!

Of course!

18.Qe4 Qd7! 19.OO 

Who can say....whether this is wise or unwise.....
On hindsight....we may claim that it was prudent to exchange that galloping Black Knight on e5...with Nf3!?

19.....Re8! 20.Qc2 h6 21.Ne4 Rh5 

Black relentlessly pursued and pushed back White's pieces....and not only attains material parity.....but with the next couple of moves, emerges both positionally and materially superior! Triumph of Black's unusual opening strategy!

22.Ng3 Rh4 23.Rad1 Rf8 24.Bc1 Qg4 25.Rd5 Qg5

When Black pursued White pieces, they retreated....and when White pursued, Black pieces advanced!

26.Qe2 c6 27.Rd4 

An unfortunate necessity as otherwise Black would put his Knight on g4 and start giving mate threats!  And now......

27.....Rh1!!

A pretty move.....and the least complement that we can pay to it is to.....

Yes, Black may still have played 27.....Ng4! and it may be a better choice....but who would forgo such an opportunity to put his Rook on that remote square...enprise!!


Reminds me of the following position.....and the incident.....

Bronstein was playing White in the above position and Tal..Black.

The position arouse out of King's Gambit...which created a furore in the tournament hall....in Riga - the lions den!

In this position, Bronstein played 15.g3!!? unblocking the path to that Rook for Black's Bishop on d5 to capture!

Keres who was present in the tournament hall, narrates....."I asked Bronstein (after the game which he won), why he did not play the simple 15.Re1 first. He looked at me as if I could not understand anything about the position and then said: 'I could not miss the opportunity to play a move like 15.g3 against Tal, which I may never repeat in my whole life!"


Well, Rapport could also not resist this move too!!


28.Kh1 Bd4 29.f3

What else!?  If that Bishop is captured, then 29......Qh4 followed by ......Ng4 etc

29.....Bb6 30.Ne4 Qh5 31.Kg1 Bc7 32.Kf2 Qh2 33.Ke1 Rd8 34.Rd2 Nd3 35.Kd1 Qe5 36.g4 Qb5 37.Qg2 Nb2 38.Kc2 Nc4 39.Bc1 Rd5 40.g5 Na5 41.Bd2 Qd3! Resigned


Such games....creations and only such games and creations will remain etched in the memory of chess players for eons!