Play Chess Against Richard Réti

Richard Réti (1889-1929), the hypermodern pioneer who ended Capablanca's eight-year unbeaten run, sits across the board. Set the strength, clock, color and starting position, then press Start game.

Play Réti now

Portrait of Richard Réti — Richard Réti, 1889-1929.

Black · Richard Réti10:00

Choose the settings, then press Start game.

White · You10:00

Richard Rétihistorical player

Preparing the board.

Set the game on the right. Start unlocks the board and starts the side-to-move clock.

Set up your game against Richard Réti

Richard Réti stays selected. Choose the playing strength, clock, color and starting position.

OpponentRichard RétiStrength1500Clock10+5You playWhite

Opponent

Richard Réti remains selected while you choose the settings for this game.

Richard Réti1889-1929

Playing strength

Legend playing strength100-point steps

1500

1500Réti, 1500 Elo target2600

Time control

The first number is the starting time in minutes. The second is the increment after each completed legal move.

Your color

Starting position optional

All chess legends

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About Richard Réti

Richard Réti in a seated studio portrait

Richard Réti (1889-1929) was the restless mind of the hypermodern revolution. Where the classics said to occupy the center with pawns, Réti showed that pieces and flank pressure could dominate it from a distance, and his 1.Nf3 system still carries his name. His win over the unbeaten José Capablanca at New York 1924 remains one of the most celebrated results in chess history. A gifted endgame composer and writer as well, he died of scarlet fever in Prague at only 40.

Ended Capablanca's streakBeat the Cuban at New York 1924, his first loss in eight years and 63 games

Father of 1.Nf3The Réti Opening fights for the center with pieces before committing pawns

Hypermodern theoristHis book Modern Ideas in Chess explained how the center can be ruled from afar

Endgame study immortalHis 1921 king march study is the most reprinted chess composition of its kind

1889
Born in Pezinok
Richard Réti was born on 28 May 1889 in Pezinok, then in Hungary, today in Slovakia. He took up serious chess while a student in Vienna.
1918
First important victory
Won at Kaschau, now Košice, in the final year of the First World War, his first major first prize.
1921
A study for the ages
Composed the king-and-pawn study in which a seemingly doomed king catches one pawn while escorting his own, the most famous endgame study ever composed.
1922
Shared first at Teplitz-Schönau
Divided first prize with Rudolf Spielmann at Teplitz-Schönau, one of the strongest tournaments of the early 1920s.
1922
Hypermodern manifesto
Published Die neuen Ideen im Schachspiel, soon known in English as Modern Ideas in Chess, the clearest statement of the new school.
1924
Ends the invincible run
At New York he beat José Capablanca with his own 1.Nf3 system, ending the Cuban's unbeaten streak of 63 games stretching back to 1916.
1925
Blindfold world record
On a South American tour he played 29 blindfold games simultaneously in São Paulo, a world record that stood for years.
1929
Death at 40
Died of scarlet fever in Prague on 6 June 1929. His Masters of the Chess Board appeared posthumously and is still read today.