Modern Ideas in Chess – 1922
Masters of the Chessboard – 1930
Chess Studies – 1931
Richard Réti – život a úspechy v skratke
Richard Réti – life and achievements in brief
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Was born into a Jewish family in Pezinok (near Bratislava) on 28 May 1889.
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His first significant success was in 1918, when he won an international tournament in Košice. His greatest triumphs came in 1920 in Gothenburg, Sweden and in 1922 in Teplice-Šanov, Czechoslovakia, where he triumphed over an entire multitude of European masters.
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In 1921, he composed his most famous study “The white is to move and draw”. He created many additional and more complex studies, but this one still fascinates, through its effectiveness using a small number of figures, and serves as a textbook example for understanding chess endgames.
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As a chess thinker and innovator, after World War I, he stood at the head of the “hypermodernists”, who promoted new approaches to the opening and other phases of the game of chess. He criticized the dogmatic approach of the classical positional school, represented by German Grand Master Siegbert Tarrasch. He formulated his opinions in his book Modern Ideas in Chess, which he published in 1922. His next book, Masters of the Chessboard (1930) didn’t come out until after his death, and is considered one of the best chess textbooks. Both books belong among classical works of chess literature and are still published to this day in many major languages.
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He received global recognition primarily for his performances at a prestigious 1924 chess tournament in New York attended by the best players from Europe and the Americas. In this tournament, he defeated the World Champion Jose R. Capablanca, while using his revolutionary opening system.
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Réti amazed the public with his exceptional ability to play many games of “blindfold chess” at once. In 1925, in São Paulo, Brazil, he set a world record when he played 29 opponents at once. In the end, he won twenty games, tied seven, and lost only two! It was an incredible feat that once again advanced the limits of human ability.
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In 1927 Réti headed the Czechoslovak team at the first Chess Olympiad in London, and bore the lion’s share of the credit for the team’s overall fifth-place result.
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When Réti returned to Prague in April 1929, he suddenly began exhibiting symptoms of scarlet fever. He was immediately taken to the hospital, but despite treatment he died on 6 June of blood poisoning.
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In the Czech Republic, a public poll elected him the best domestic player of the century. In 2018 he was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
The footage of Richard Réti at a chess tournament in Moscow from the Chess Fever (1925).
Chess Fever (Шахматная горячка) is a Soviet silent film by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Nikolai Spikovsky. The film combines acting parts with real tournament footage.
Source: YouTube
A photograph from the tournament of chess stars in New York (1924) signed by the participants. Standing, from left: F. Marshall, S. Tartakower, G. Maróczy, A. Alekhine, R. Réti, J. Bogoljubov. Sitting, from left: F. Yates, J.R. Capablanca, D. Janowski, Ed. Lasker, Em. Lasker.
Réti at a chess event in Montevideo, Uruguay (1924).
Réti before the start of a simultaneous chess exhibition.
A photograph from the Marshall vs. Réti game at a tournament in Moscow (1925).
