What are the plans in the hypermodern Reti?

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Oyek

Hello. I want to know what are my possible long-term plans when entering a Reti opening setup. And by Reti, I mean how the "real" Reti is originally intended to be played, and not transposing into other openings such as Queen's Gambit. I'm very partial to the Na3-Nc2 maneuver, and was wondering if I played these two games correctly. My understanding does not extend beyond lure the opponent into playing c5, then gang up on it and force it into a pawn weakness.

ThrillerFan

Neither of these games are the Reti Opening. Doesn't matter that you played 1.Nf3 - They are both the English Opening, Symmetrical Variation.

That's the problem with playing openings like the Reti (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4) is that you cannot force it, and it tends to be a very transpositional opening and often leads to either the English Opening or Queen Pawn openings.

Same goes for the English Opening, after 1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5, White has 2 choices, the Reti, by playing a move like 3.b3 or 3.g3, or a Queen's Pawn Opening by playing 3.d4 or 3.cxd5 exd5 4.d4.

If you open 1.Nf3, you have to either know the English or Queen Pawn openings, or both. In your case, it looks to be the English.

Of course, a third option would be 1.e4 against 1...c5, in which case you have the Sicilian, but you'd still need to know the symmetrical English if you play 2.c4 after 1...Nf6.

What playing 1.Nf3 does do and 1.c4 does not is avoid the 1...e5 lines since 1.Nf3 e5 you can just take it. This is where you have to figure out move order. The English and Reti intertwine. By playing 1.Nf3, you avoid the 1...e5 lines of the English. By playing 1.c4, you avoid likes like the capture and reverse benoni lines of the Reti (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 dxc4 and 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4). But either way you'll have to know the Symmetrical English, and likely a couple of d4 lines. For example, there is nothing better than to play an eventual d4 against the King's Indian setup, but you can avoid the Grunfeld, Nimzo-Indian, etc, by starting with 1.Nf3 or 1.c4.

But again, you cannot force the Reti, and neither of your two examples are the Reti. They are the symmetrical English.

tygxc

The main plan is to create activity on the queen's side thanks to the power of Bg2 and the opening of a- and/or b-files. Here is a classical example:

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1007029

Ethan_Brollier

Why exactly do you like the Nb1-a3-c2 maneuver? The best part about the English is that you play c4 and then you are free to play an early Nc3, so why would you take an extra tempo to put the knight on a worse square?