Richard Réti’s endgames (1)
By Pál Benkö
It is time to celebrate Richard Réti's upcoming 125th birthday! He was born on May 28, 1889 in Bösing, Hungary (now Slovakia), where his father worked as a physician in the service of the Austrian military. His older brother Rudolph Reti was a noted pianist, musical theorist, and composer.
Richard Réti studied mathematics at Vienna University, and at the same time advanced to become one of the top chess players in the world. He began his chess career as tactical player, favoring openings such as the King's Gambit. However, after the end of the First World War, his playing style changed, and he became one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism. The Réti Opening (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4) is named after him. He used it to defeat world champion José Raúl Capablanca in the New York 1924 chess tournament – Capablanca's first defeat in eight years. In 1925 Réti set a world record for blindfold chess with 29 games played simultaneously. He won 21, drew six, and lost two.
Réti was also a notable composer of endgame studies, with about 60 original pieces of work. I wish to present some of these, starting with the Hungarian Championship in 1907, where he provided a demonstration of his endgame skills.
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74...g6! 75.Kg1 g5 76.Kh2 g4 77.Kg1 Ng3 78.Nf2 Ne2+ 79.Kf1 g3 80.Nh3 g2+ 81.Ke1 Kg3 0–1
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| Demeter,A | - | Reti,R | - | 0–1 | 1907 | | Szekesfehervar | |
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The "Excelsior" theme in a practical game. It fits Reti’s artistic spirit: produce a lot with very little material.
Bleak Bishop
Reti's ideas were usually excellent, but there are some works with errors. I can best pay tribute to his memory if I restore these studies while keeping the original spirit and without adding new material.
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1.Kd4 1.h4? Ke3! 1...Kf2 2.h4 Kg3 2...Be2! 3.Kc5 3.Ke4 Kg2! 4.Ke3 4.Kf5 Kf3! 5.h5 Ke3 6.h6 Kd4 4...Kf1 5.Kf4 Kf2 6.Kg5 Ke3= 3...Ke3! 4.Kb6 4.b5 Kf4 4...Bf3 5.h5 Bxh5 6.Kxb7 Be2 7.Kb6 7.a6 Kd4 8.a7 8.Kb6 Kc4 9.b5 Bf3 8...Kc4 9.Kb6 Bf3 10.b5 Ba8 11.Ka6 Kc5 7.Kc6 Kd4 8.b5 Kc4 7...Kd4 8.a6 Kc4 9.b5 Bf3 3.Ke3! Bg4! 4.b5! Kxh4 5.b6! Bc8 6.Kf4 Kh5 7.Ke5 Kg5 8.Kd6 Kf5 9.Kc7 1–0
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
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| Reti,R | - | White to play and win? | - | 1–0 | 1920 | | Kagan's Neueste Schachnachrichten#3 | |
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We can improve this so that the bishop could not get to e2:
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1.h4! 1.Kd2? Bc6! 2.h4 Be8= 1...Kg2 2.Kd2 2.Kd3? Kf2 3.b5 Be2+= 2...Kg3 3.Ke3 Bg4 4.b5 Kxh4 5.b6 Bc8 6.Kd4 Kg5 7.Ke5 Kg6 8.Kd6 Kf7 9.Kc7 Bg4 10.Kxb7 1–0
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
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| Reti/Benko,R | - | White to play and win | - | 1–0 | 2014 | | | |
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Concealed Cook
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1.Kf7 1.d5? Ke7! 2.dxc6 Bc7 3.g6 Bxf4 4.Kh7 Be5 5.Kg8 Ke8 6.Kh7 Ba1! 7.Kh6 7.Kg8 e5 7...Bf6 1...Bc3 2.d5! cxd5 2...exd5! 3.g6 Bh8! 4.Kg8 4.f5 d4 5.f6 d3 6.g7 Bxg7 7.fxg7 d2 8.g8Q d1Q 4...Bb2! 5.Kf7 c5 6.f5 c4 7.f6 c3 3.g6 Kd6 4.Kf8! Bb2 5.Kf7 Bh8 6.Kg8 Bc3 7.Kf7 ½–½
- Start an analysis engine:
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- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
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| Reti,R | - | White to play and draw? | - | ½–½ | 1928 | | 1.hm Shakhmatny Listok | 1 |
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As correction I propose pushing the whole position to the right by one file to eliminate the 3….Bh8! cook. However, I think this endgame deserves a further workout.
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1.g4 1.Kg7? f5! 1...Kd8 1...Bc6 2.Kg7 1...Kd7 2.Kf8!= 2.h4 2.Kf8? Bd7 3.h3 Be6 2...Ke7 3.h5 Bc6 4.e5! fxe5 4...dxe5 5.h6 Be4 6.Kg7 Bd3 7.Kg8 5.h6 Be4 6.g5 d5 7.Kg7 d4 8.g6 d3 9.h7 d2 10.h8Q d1Q 11.Qh4+ ½–½
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
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| Reti/Benko,R | - | White to play and draw | - | ½–½ | 2014 | | Correction | |
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– Part two of this article by Pal Benko will follow soon –
Pal Benko (right) Analysing with WGM Alina Kašlinskaja and GM Wolfgang Uhlmann
at the recent Snowdrops vs Old Hands tournament in Podebrady (Czech Republic)
Benko's 2003 autobiography, which was reviewed by Prof. Nagesh Havanur
