Richard Rapport: ‘Helping a contender at World Chess Championship is like taking care of a child’

This year’s World Chess Championships was arguably one of the most pulsating battles in the hory of the Championships. After a nerve-wracking, see-saw battle, where there was nothing to separate the duo over 14 classical games, Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren beat Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in the tie-breaker. World Championship contenders traditionally hire a team of Grandmasters — called seconds — to help them prepare for and during the tournament. Usually, the name of seconds is a closely-guarded secret. Ding though, chose not to go the traditional way. Hungarian-Romanian GM Richard Rapport was a very visible presence in the corner of Ding, who was defying tradition in other ways as well becoming the first Chinese GM to play in the men’s World Championship encounter.Speaking ahead of the Global Chess League (GCL), Rapport said the experience of being a second was an emotional one, comparing it to taking care of a child.

🚨It’s Official I @rjrapport Just Made #TheBigMove
Prepare to be dazzled this star of chess as Grandmaster #RichardRapport joins the elite ranks of the #GlobalChessLeague! #GCL Starts 21st June, 2023 pic.twitter.com/UjVI23FoUl
— Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (@GCLlive) May 29, 2023
“I’m not a parent, but parents care for their children very much. They always feel like helping the kid out even in simple tasks. If they make even a small make, you feel that maybe you should’ve done something more. It becomes a truly emotional connection. So yes, I would say that being a second for the World Championship contender is like taking care of a child,” he told The Indian Express.
It became quite evident early on in the contest that Ding was going to fight a psychological battle apart from the one he was fighting on the board. After blundering away the second game, Ding appeared mentally rattled, admitting as much in a very candid press conference appearance. Eventually though, he did phenomenally well to fight back and win the Championships.
“Part of my job was to be present and support Ding away from the chess board. Chess-wise a player can seek help from many people, but psychologically, it was a very demanding tournament. So it’s more profitable to have someone you are close to rather than have a person with some 100 ELO rating points more. Liren is a nice person and I’ve had a good relationship with him. I’m on great terms with the Chinese chess community too and perhaps that’s why they asked me to help him,” he added.
Chess is an individual sport and helping another chess player prepare for his match was a bit of an alien concept to Rapport.
“I’ve never really been in a second’s shoes. I didn’t have seconds in the past myself so this whole experience was kind of alien to me. I definitely see things differently after this and I’m grateful for this experience that I know not many Grandmasters will have,” he said before adding that he would not be open to helping every player who asked him for his help as a second since “it is important to believe in the project”.

Richard Rapport is now a part of Ding Liren’s family! A wonderful frame. pic.twitter.com/uIKZ4fbKdG
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) April 30, 2023
Born in Hungary but now playing for the Romanian federation, Rapport said that it was great Ding and he formed a personal connection and while that made them trust each other, it was very stressful for him as well.
“When you get invested in this, it becomes very stressful. I feel like I lost 10 years of my life,” he chuckled.
“I would’ve loved to be a spectator for the Nepo vs Ding match and be completely unbiased. It was a very exciting match and you didn’t know what would happen the next moment. It was different from when I play games, because I can change things on the board.
“But in the World Championship game, it’s almost like you have this religious kind of belief (in your candidate) and you depend on a higher power. Whatever you do that day is kind of irrelevant and you just try to help as much as you can,” he said.
After having the experience of helping Ding become World Champion, one would think that Rapport would be itching to compete for the title himself. The 27-year-old though, doesn’t harbour any such ambitions.

Ding Liren plays the incredible Kf1!!, a crazy computer move which nobody else could find! 🧠
He’s now in a completely winning position against Richard Rapport on move 22 👏 #FIDECandidates pic.twitter.com/U5DSAhEZua
— Chess.com (@chesscom) June 19, 2022
“I’m not going to play the World Cup (in Baku) and neither am I going to play in the FIDE cycle. I don’t feel like it. In fact, in seven years, I played only one event and qualified for the Candidates. This is a personal decision. I’m not extremely ambitious but neither am I completely unambitious in that regard. It’s just something I don’t feel like doing right now,” he said.
Rapport said he prefers playing in leagues and tournaments he gets invited to, tournaments that he knows are organised well. Even though it’s the inaugural season of the GCL, Rapport said he was impressed how valued he was made to feel the organisers. He will team up with five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand, and GMs Leinier Dominguez Perez, Yifan Hou, Bella Khotenashvili and Andrey Esipenko for Ganges Grandmasters.
“The fact that Vishy (Anand) is in our team is going to be a morale booster. Even Yifan (four-time Women’s World Champion) is a legend,” he said. “We don’t have training in chess to be a team player. Chess raises you to be an individual player. So this will be fun.”