Richard Selig Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929) was an Austro-Hungarian, later

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player, chess author, and composer of

endgame studies In the game of chess, an endgame study, or just study, is a composed position—that is, one that has been made up rather than played in an actual game—presented as a sort of puzzle, in which the aim of the solver is to find the essentially uniqu ...

. He was one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism in chess. With the exception of Nimzowitsch's book ''

My System ''My System'' (german: Mein System) is a book on chess theory written by Aron Nimzowitsch. Originally over a series of five brochures from 1925 to 1927, the book—one of the early works on hypermodernism—introduced many new concepts to foll ...

'', he is considered to be the movement's foremost literary contributor.

Early life

Réti was born to a Jewish family in Bazin,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(now

Pezinok Pezinok (; hu, Bazin; german: Bösing; lat, Bazinium) is a town in southwestern Slovakia. It is roughly northeast of Bratislava and, as of December 2018, had a population of 23,002. Pezinok lies near the Little Carpathians and thrives mainly ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

), where his father worked as a physician in the service of the Austrian military. His older brother

Rudolph Reti Rudolph Reti, also Réti ( srp, Рудолф Рети, translit=Rudolf Reti; November 27, 1885 – February 7, 1957), was a musical analyst, composer and pianist. He was the older brother of the chess master Richard Réti, but unlike his brother, ...

(who did not use the acute accent) was a noted

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, musical theorist, and composer. He is the great-grandfather of the German painter Elias Maria Reti. Réti came to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to study mathematics at Vienna University."Memoir of Reti", in ''Reti's Best Games of Chess'', annotated by H. Golombek (Dover 1974).

Chess career

One of the top players in the world during the 1910s and 1920s, he began his career as a combinative classical player, favoring openings such as the

King's Gambit The King's Gambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. f4 White offers a pawn to divert the black e-pawn. If Black accepts the gambit, White has two main plans. The first is to play d4 and Bxf4, regaining the gambit ...

(1.e4 e5 2.f4). After the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, however, his playing style changed, and he became one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism, along with

Aron Nimzowitsch Aron Nimzowitsch ( lv, Ārons Nimcovičs, russian: Аро́н Иса́евич Нимцо́вич, ''Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich''; 7 November 1886 – 16 March 1935) was a Latvian-born Danish chess player and writer. In the late 1920s, Nimz ...

and others. With the exception of Nimzowitsch's book ''

'', he is considered to be the movement's foremost literary contributor. He had his greatest early successes in the period 1918 through 1921, in tournaments in Kaschau (Košice; 1918),

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

(1919),

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

(1920),

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(1920), and Gothenburg (1921). In 1925 Réti set a world record for

blindfold chess Blindfold chess, also known as ''sans voir'', is a form of chess play wherein the players do not see the positions of the pieces and do not touch them. This forces players to maintain a mental model of the positions of the pieces. Moves are commu ...

with 29 games played simultaneously. He won 21, drew 6, and lost 2. Réti was also a notable composer of

Death

Réti died on 6 June 1929 in Prague of scarlet fever. His ashes are buried in the grave of Réti's father, Dr. Samuel Réti, in the Jewish section of

Zentralfriedhof The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its ...

cemetery in Vienna, in Section T1, Group 51, Row 5, Grave 34.JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry. - Austria http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Cemetery/.

Legacy

The

Réti Opening The Réti Opening is a hypermodern chess opening whose "traditional" or "classic method" begins with the moves: :1. Nf3 d5 :2. c4 White attacks Black's pawn from the , which may occasion 2...dxc4. White may couple this plan with a kingside ...

(1.Nf3 d5 2.c4) is named after him. Réti defeated

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Capabl ...

in the

New York 1924 chess tournament New York 1924 was an elite chess tournament held in the Alamac Hotel in New York City from March 16 to April 18, 1924. It was organized by the Manhattan Chess Club. The competitors included world champion José Raúl Capablanca and his predecesso ...

– Capablanca's first defeat in eight years, his only loss to Réti, and his first since becoming world champion. This tournament was also the only occasion in which Réti beat future world champion

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns. By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...

, accomplishing this feat in the same number of moves. Réti's writings have become classics of chess literature. ''Modern Ideas in Chess'' (1923) and ''Masters of the Chess Board'' (1933) are studied today.

Famous endgame study

Réti composed one of the most famous chess studies, shown in this diagram. It was published in '' Ostrauer Morgenzeitung'' 4 December 1921. It seems impossible for the white king to catch the advanced black pawn, while the white pawn can be easily stopped by the black king. The idea of the solution is to move the king to advance on both pawns at the same time using specific properties of the chess geometry. :1. Kg7 h4 2. Kf6 Kb6 :Or 2...h3 3.Ke7 and the white king can support its own pawn. :3. Ke5 :And now the white king comes just in time to the white pawn, or catches the black one. :3... h3 4. Kd6 and draws.

Publications

*''Modern Ideas In Chess'' (1923
Complete Transcription
*''Masters Of The Chess Board'' (1933)

Notable games

Réti vs. Akiba Rubinstein, Karlsbad 1923, King's Indian Attack (A11), 1–0
A model game for Réti-type opening.
Réti vs. Jose Raul Capablanca, New York 1924, English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense. (A15), 1–0
The famous victory over Capablanca.
Réti vs. Alexander Alekhine, New York 1924, Indian Game: London System (A48), 1–0
Réti's only victory over Alekhine.
Réti vs. Efim Bogoljubov, New York 1924, English Opening (A13), 1–0

praised the "sparkling conclusion". The game won the tournament's . A collection of his games was published as ''Reti's Games of Chess'', annotated by H. Golombek, republished by Dover (1974).

References

External links

* * Edward Winter
The Réti Brothers

Complete works of Richard Reti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reti, Richard 1889 births 1929 deaths 20th-century chess players People from Pezinok Slovak Jews Chess composers Chess theoreticians Jewish chess players Chess players from the Austro-Hungarian Empire Slovak chess players Czechoslovak chess players Chess Olympiad competitors Austro-Hungarian writers Chess writers Czech Jews Hungarian Jews Austro-Hungarian Jews