Réti Opening
also known as: Reti Opening
1. Nf3 d5 2. c4
Named after
Richard Réti (1889–1929), Czechoslovak grandmaster, endgame-study composer of genius, and co-founder of hypermodernism.
Origin
Réti's signature system (Nf3, c4, double fianchetto) crystallized in the early 1920s and announced itself at New York 1924.
The story
Réti was the artist of the hypermodern revolution — his book "Modern Ideas in Chess" its most elegant statement, his endgame study (the impossible king chase K-h8 catching a pawn two files away) its most famous artwork. At New York 1924 he did the unthinkable: beat Capablanca, ending the world champion's EIGHT-YEAR unbeaten run, with his own opening — knights and fianchettoed bishops encircling a center his pawns never entered. The chess world treated the game like a scientific proof: the classical center could be beaten by pressure from the wings. He died of scarlet fever at thirty-nine, his opening now permanent.
Why it matters
The purest hypermodern system: control the center with pieces, strike with c4 and the fianchettos, transpose at will. Half of modern "1.Nf3 move-order chess" is Réti's legacy in daily use.
Notable games
- Réti–Capablanca, New York 1924
- Réti–Bogoljubov, New York 1924 (a brilliancy-prize miniature)