Réti maneuvers

The Réti maneuver is a chess motif named after Richard Réti . A king approaches two targets at the same time by dragging along a diagonal, forcing one of the two to be reached. The maneuver is based on the peculiarity of the chessboard geometry that the way of a king over an incline takes just as long as over a straight line.

The maneuver was named after Réti's most famous study . It is very well known among chess players because it is considered relevant to practice and aesthetically demanding. The idea of ​​the study contradicts the common wisdom: "You cannot hunt two hares at the same time, otherwise both will run away".

Editing of the topic by Réti

At first glance, the requirement of Réti's study from 1921 looks impossible, since the white king can apparently no longer catch up with the black pawn, but the black king can catch up with the white pawn. The white king must therefore pursue two goals at the same time:

• support your own farmer
• intercept the opposing pawn

If the black king approaches the white pawn with Kb6, then the white king gains one move time to approach the opposing pawn's square . If, on the other hand, Black only moves his pawn forward, then the white king has enough time to support his own pawn and both pawns turn into a queen in the same pair of moves. The chess master and author Savielly Tartakower praised Réti's study as “ squaring the circle ”.

Richard Réti
German-Austrian daily newspaper
September 11, 1921

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move achieves a draw

Solution:

1. Kh8 – g7! h5 – h4

2. Kg7-f6 Ka6-b6

Or 2.… h4 – h3 3. Kf6 – e7, and the king helps his pawn to move in at the same time as black.

3. Kf6 – e5 !!

That's the punch line. White now either reaches his pawn in time, or he catches the black pawn after 3.… Kb6xc6 4. Ke5 – f4

3.… h4 – h3

4. Ke5-d6

The pawns will move in at the same time - a draw .

Richard Réti
1928

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move holds a draw

This alternative version by Réti itself is almost even more amazing than the first version because of the material preponderance of black. White draws 1. Kh5 – g6 and holds a draw in all variants: 1.… Ka6 – b6 (1.… h5 2. Kxg7 h4 3. Kxf6; 1.… f5 2. Kxg7 f4 3. Kf6 f3 4. Ke6) 2 . Kg6xg7 h6 – h5 (2.… f5 3. Kf6 f4 4. Ke5 f3 5. Kd6) 3. Kg7xf6 Kb6xc6 4. Kf6 – e5 plus a draw.

Source of inspiration

Réti was inspired by a game played by Carl Schlechter against Georg Marco , which was played in Vienna in 1893 and was published in the magazine Deutsches Wochenschach .

Worse - Marco
1893

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move

Because of the invading black king, the game seems lost for White, but his counterplay comes just in time: 52. Kf5 – e6 Kc3xb3 53. Ke6 – d7 Kb3xc4 54. Kd7xc7 Kc4xd5 4 Kc7xb6! Kd5 – c4 56. Kb6xb7 d6 – d5 57. a3 – a4 Kc4 – b4 58. Kb7 – b6 draw

Studies of other composers

Bernhard Horwitz
1879

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move wins

Although the maneuver appeared in this much older study, it was named after Réti because his study became much better known. Here White to move seems to have to force a draw through perpetual check, because how are the pawns supposed to be stopped? However, the Réti maneuver helps: The white king helps his rook on the queenside in order to then conquer the g3 pawn! Solution:

1. Kf8 – e7! a3-a2

2. Ke7 – d6! e5 – e4

3. Kd6 – c5! (where does the king actually want to go?) e4 – e3

4. Kc5 – b4! e3 – e2 Or 4.… a1D 5. Rxa1 Kxa1 6. Kc3, and the king conquers both pawns victoriously. But now the king and rook are grappling with black:

5. Ra7 – e7 !! a2-a1D

6. Re7xe2 + Kb2-b1

7. Re2-e1 + Kb1-b2

8. Re1xa1 , and White wins the pawn on g3.

Aleksandr and Kiryl Sarychev
Shachmatny Listok 1928, praise

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move holds a draw

This treatment seems to be even more difficult to solve than Réti's study, since Black still has a bishop. The paradoxical solution is to first sacrifice two tempos to push the opposing passed pawn forward, where it can then be intercepted with the help of a réti maneuver.

Solution:

1. Kd7 – c8 !! b7-b5

2. Kc8 – d7 !! b5-b4

3. Kd7 – d6! Bh7 – f5 now the Réti maneuver:

4. Kd6 – e5 !! Kf3-g4

5. Ke5 – d4 and a draw

Ilham Aliyev
Chess 2002, praise

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move holds a draw

Solution:

1. Ke3-f4 Sa4-b6

2. Kf4-g5 Nb6-d7

3. Kg5-h6 Nd7-f8

4. Kh6-g7 h7-h5

5. Kg7xf8 Ka6 – b5 and the Réti maneuver

6. Kf8-f (e) 7 Kb5-c4

7. Kf7 – e6! h5 – h4

8. d4-d5 h4-h3

9. d5 – d6 h3 – h2

10. d6-d7 h2-h1D

11. d7 – d8D also forces a draw here

Another example of a Réti maneuver can be found in the displacement .

literature

• Karsten Müller , Frank Lamprecht : Secrets of Pawn Endings . Everyman Publishers, London 2000. ISBN 1-85744-255-5 .
• Mark Dworezki : Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual . Russel Enterprises, 2003, ISBN 1-888690-19-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dworezki (2003), page 25
2. ^ John Beasley: The Chess Endgame Studies of Richard Réti: Pawn studies , March 2, 2012