Richard Réti

Richard Réti ( born May 28, 1889 in Pezinok near Pressburg, † June 6, 1929 in Prague ) was a famous German- Austro- Hungarian chess master, after the disintegration of the Habsburg monarchy Czechoslovakian chess grandmaster. His older brother was pianist and composer Rudolph Reti (* 1885, † 1957).

Life

RETIS father, Dr. Samuel Réti (1853-1904) was a Jewish doctor who specialized in the treatment of venereal diseases. 1890, the family of Pezinok to Vienna, where Réti at the high school began to study mathematics after graduating. Soon, however, he devoted the game of chess more time than studying. When he forgot his seminar work in the Café Central in Vienna and not found again, he gave the math on final and became a professional chess player.

Savielly Tartakower said about this period:

Réti studied mathematics without being a dry mathematician, Vienna represents without being Wiener, a native Old Ungar is without being able to Hungarian, speaks extremely quickly in order to act more cautious, and is still the best chess player without being a world champion. He's just an inquisitive artist, more of things than with the nature of which is concerned with the "why" ...

Unlike other chess masters Réti was despite undoubted talent not a " Wunderkind", but had to work very much for its subsequent results. Through self- study and practice, he increased his skill level from 1908 to 1912 considerably. In his first international tournament (Vienna 1908), it was only 3 draws from 19 games, in the second it was 5.5 points out of 10 In the following years he completed a close friendship with the very talented Gyula Breyer, one of the later " fellow " Hyper Modern Chess School.

During the First World War, the international chess life stood still, Réti was active only in local tournaments. End of the war he moved to Prague. Réti criticized similar to his contemporary Aaron Nimzowitsch the dogmatic style of play of the older masters. This Réti however was not so aggressively as Nimzowitsch, the journalistic feuds with Siegbert Tarrasch, the supporters of the former, dogmatic style delivered himself.

RETIS victory against José Raúl Capablanca World Championship in New York in 1924 was an important step in the propagation of Hyper Modern Ideas in Chess. The Réti opening - ( f3 d7 -d5 1.Sg1 - 2.c2 - c4) - Much has been played, and the underlying ideas of indirect control of the center now belong to the knowledge of every good chess player. Selbige game ended at the same time since 1916 Capablanca's existing series of the unbeaten.

In 1925 Réti set a world record in blind simul on 29 boards. He won 21 games, held 6 draw and lost only 2

Réti made ​​considerable contributions to chess theory, and was the author of several chess books: New Ideas in Chess (1922 ) and The Masters of the chessboard (1930 ) are classics.

His best historical Elo rating was 2710th This he achieved in December 1920.

At the age of just 40 years Réti died of scarlet fever in Prague. He is buried in the Viennese central cemetery.

Games

• Réti - Tartakower, Vienna 1910
• Réti - Alekhine, Baden -Baden 1925

Endgame studies

By Richard Réti 53 endgame studies are known. In the posthumously published by Mandler work that Réti himself had prepared, all the studies mentioned in Volume 2, to which he laid claim to authorship. Apparently there are also chess positions including that he had shown ( eg lectures ) of an audience and which were then falsely assigned to it.

RETIS genius is evident in his profound ideas. Some of his studies he was aware of a form that would now considered in chess composition as inadequate, because their solution is not unique runs (low resolution, dual ). He was of the opinion that the game near the study was more important as a clear game. Unaware of this view, some composers have later revised these studies in order to enforce their claim to correctness. Of course, lost the studies thus to match nearby.

The representation of the Réti maneuver is probably his most famous work. But also the following study is world famous and a great example of the views represented by him to study composition.

To understand the solution, you should know that after 1.Td4 -d1 -d4 d5 a position of mutual Zugzwangs arises: White on the train can only achieve a draw, but Black loses the train because he has to give up the opposition. solution: