"1.Nf3 is a wonderfully crafty way to open the game. White makes a useful developing move without committing his centre pawns, giving Black nothing to bite on. We will concentrate on variations which see White adopting the Reti system. Richard Reti (1889-1929) was one of the hypermoderns - a group of chess pioneers of the 1920s who drastically changed the way the game was played. Basically, rather than erecting a big pawn centre, Reti realized the effectiveness of the combination of the restrained pawn-centre and the fianchetto of one or both bishops. Throughout this book there are examples of the pressure White manages to exert on the long diagonals, and apart from the dark squared bishop, which plays a major role thanks to the power of the queenside fianchetto, you will find that White's queen sees a lot of action on the a1-h8 diagonal. In fact the Reti bishop and the Reti queen make an excellent team. The hypermodern strategy is taken for granted today as a perfectly sound and promising approach which caters for players of different styles, and players of every level have difficulty when faced with White's raking bishops on the long diagonals and the annoying amorphous pawn-centre, which threatens to advance with extreme force should Black find his own 'over-extended' centre being dismantled. It is also no coincidence that Reti was an endings expert, as White's persistent initiative can lead to a promising end-game if Black seeks to relieve the pressure through exchanges." ---Dunnington
"1.Nf3 is a wonderfully crafty way to open the game. White makes a useful developing move without committing his centre pawns, giving Black nothing to bite on. We will concentrate on variations which see White adopting the Reti system. Richard Reti (1889-1929) was one of the hypermoderns - a group of chess pioneers of the 1920s who drastically changed the way the game was played. Basically, rather than erecting a big pawn centre, Reti realized the effectiveness of the combination of the restrained pawn-centre and the fianchetto of one or both bishops. Throughout this book there are examples of the pressure White manages to exert on the long diagonals, and apart from the dark squared bishop, which plays a major role thanks to the power of the queenside fianchetto, you will find that White's queen sees a lot of action on the a1-h8 diagonal. In fact the Reti bishop and the Reti queen make an excellent team.
The hypermodern strategy is taken for granted today as a perfectly sound and promising approach which caters for players of different styles, and players of every level have difficulty when faced with White's raking bishops on the long diagonals and the annoying amorphous pawn-centre, which threatens to advance with extreme force should Black find his own 'over-extended' centre being dismantled. It is also no coincidence that Reti was an endings expert, as White's persistent initiative can lead to a promising end-game if Black seeks to relieve the pressure through exchanges." ---Dunnington
Black's c5-e5 Bind
Zaichik vs de la Villa
Black's c6-d5-e6 wall
Spraggett vs Garcia Callejo
[Contents]