In the recently concluded World Championship, the white knight jumped to f3 several times on the first move. The exciting battle between the new World Champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, and the dethroned champion, Ding Liren, showed how quickly Black can get into a disadvantageous position and start to ponder in the Reti opening. 

1.Nf3: A Reti-Grandmaster course for strategic understanding and flexibility Vol.2 - Classical Systems

In this course, Grandmaster Felix Blohberger delivers a complete opening repertoire for White, centred around the flexible move 1.Nf3.

If you are looking for a versatile and strategic opening repertoire with remarkable tactical refinements, Felix Blohberger's Fritz Trainer is for you: with his creative variations, memorising endless variations is not the point.

Felix Blohberger shows surprises in the Reti

Rather, he opens his valuable and tried-and-tested opening box and shows a complete grandmaster opening repertoire for White, which revolves around the flexible move 1.Nf3 and avoids endless theoretical variations. Blohberger explains: ‘I want to show structures, plans and ideas instead of presenting long engine variations.’

In an interview with Arne Kähler, he discusses his concept in detail. 
 

The course is in two parts and covers systems with 1.Nf3 and mostly with g3. Part one deals with systems, in which Black fianchettos his bishops, to b7 or g7, in other words Indian setups and the Modern Defence, as well as a few other ideas. Part 2 is dedicated to the classical systems that are based on the rapid occupation of the centre by the black pawns.

Volume 1

In this course, the Austrian national player discusses the black fianchetto systems of the King's Indian, Grünfeld, Queen's Indian, the Hedgehog setup, the Modern Defence and the double fianchetto, as well as the Maroczy Defence, the Dutch Defence and the most common side lines.

Many of the variations include openings that frequently appear on the board up to the top level and are well researched accordingly. However, Blohberger quickly takes side paths, which for the sake of simplicity are often based on the move Te1 instead of the more popular c4, in order to bypass the extensive theory.

In Chapter 2.1, Blohberger takes on the King's Indian (and Old Indian) structures of Black. It is amazing and very instructive to see when White should exchange the d-pawn on e5 or c5 in order to get into a promising position and to take the strength out of any Black counterplay at an early stage.

"I was surprised how good White's position already is," Blohberger said.

Since the Grünfeld Defence against the Reti Opening is also very popular and somewhat more complex, the most extensive section is devoted to these variations, and Chapter 3 is therefore the longest of the first part of the video course, with around 70 minutes of video playing time: Blohberger shows how to play against sidelines or how to transpose to his main lines.

The main line deals with the difficult task of achieving an advantage against the Grünfeld set-up with...g6, ...Bg7 and...d5. ‘I'm very happy with the system I'm presenting here. It still tends to fly under the radar for many Black players,’ says Felix Blohberger about his white system, which avoids many drawish lines.

Blohberger claims that the less-known move 7.a4 is a way to get an advantage for White

The chapter on the main line, which lasts almost half an hour, is followed by two videos on the Bblack reply 6...dxc4.

After this long section on the Grünfeld, the next chapter shows concisely how White should deal with the early pawn advance 2...b5. This is followed by two more detailed explanations of all the positions that Black can reach by aiming for a Queen's Indian or a hedgehog structure, or that can be achieved by both sides fianchetting. Here, the idea of Bg6 from the introduction reappears. Blohberger also explains many simple ways to get into a more comfortable middlegame for White, with the prospect of an endgame with a dangerous pawn majority on the queenside.

In the final four sections, Blohberger presents promising ways of playing against the Modern, unorthodox defences, and Maroczy and Dutch set-ups.

Volume 2

In the second part, the Austrian top player discusses the white options for reacting to the classical systems in which the pawns are placed in the centre with 1...c5, 1...d5. In addition to the classical line with...d5, ...Nf6, ...e6, ...Be7 and...0-0, these are the Tarrasch Defence (classical and Dubov-Tarrasch) and the Triangle System.

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There are far more lines here than in the fianchetto systems of the first part. This is why only a few examples are given here.

The seventh chapter deals with the currently popular Dubov-Tarrasch system. What distinguishes this variation from the classic Tarrasch is that the f8-bishop is not developed to e7, but to the more active square c5. In order to quickly deviate from the beaten track here as well, Blohberger suggests, for example, a rather rarely played exchange of the knights on c6:

Blohberger thinks 8…Bc5 should be answered with 9.Nxc6!?

Against the triangle system with the black pawns on d5, e6 and c6, Blohberger suggests the following: "We fianchetto both bishops and, thanks to our flexible move order, we have the possibility of dominating the centre with d3 followed by e4. This allows White to play some variations that are not possible in the Catalan after d4. Above all, however, it avoids the typical Catalan counterplay with ...b6 and ...c5 against the white central pawn on d4."

Finally, and fittingly for the last topic, a nice game by Fabiano Caruana:

Conclusion

As an active player, Felix Blohberger provides an astonishingly deep and well-founded insight into his repertoire. He presents many new ideas from an opening theory perspective. Instead of reciting memorised forced variations, he focuses on well-founded positional understanding and flexible structures. He often uses clever move order to transpose to well-known, advantageous systems, such as the Réti Opening or the English Opening, but he also frequently ventures into new territory. Regardless of where he ends up, he always explains the positional structure and the strategic plans required in each case.

The Blohberger repertoire for 1.Nf3 is perfect for players who prefer strategic play and flexibility to memorising long, complicated variations. What's more, with over seven hours of video running time and easy-to-understand explanations, it offers everything you need to avoid your opponents' theoretical knowledge and to play in familiar territory.

Not least through the extensive game material, the practical units integrated into the chapters, which you can play out against Fritz online, and the exercises, you will learn step by step to understand typical pawn structures in the opening and to exchange the right pieces.

A perfect course for those who want to expand their repertoire and prefer to operate in familiar territory and not in their opponents pet lines.

Video run time: Volume 1: 3 hours, 5 minutes. Volume 2: 4 hours

The author

Felix Blohberger is not only a grandmaster – he is also a multiple Austrian national champion and a permanent member of the Austrian national team. At just 19 years old, he achieved the title of grandmaster. He has a wealth of experience both as a competitive player and as a second for top players.

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