Starting Out: The Réti

If you are planning to adopt the Reti opening, this book is the place to start. It will keep all but those aspiring to be masters happy. Then go to Eric Schiller's book, next "The Dynamic Reti", ending finally with Demuth's very in-depth work. You might also pick up How to win with the Reti, plus a collection of Richard Reti's collected games....Don't forget also chessgames.com plus youtube.com for many lessons on this opening.

I totally agree with the other review. It's a frustrating book.Moreover, there isn't one single line about the Reti-Barcza ( 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 ) which is the more common order used by Reti players. Anybody writing a book on the Reti should not neglect this line. So if you want info on the Reti-Barcza, this is NOT the book for you. Try Osnos' Réti Opening (Batsford) although this one is a database dump.

What is in the book:Starting Out The Reti is a collection of annotated games and explanations on main line flank openings starting with 1. Nf3 intending an early c4. The largest part deals with 1. Nf3-d5 2.c4, evidently excluding transpositions to the Queen's Gambit or the Catalan. Three out of seven chapters deal with a Slav set-up (Black plays c6), one chapter each with 2...d4, 2...e6 and 2...dc:. A final chapter provides some suggestions on how to answer if black does not want to play any of the lines mentioned above. Strictly speaking, the lines in this final chapter belong to the English opening. In almost all cases, white plays a subsequent c4, only against the Slav set-up, McDonald also discusses an early e4 as an alternative.What is not in the book:This is not a repertoire book, nor is it a theoretical tome. Besides, a bunch of interesting lines that often arise after 1. Nf3 are not covered, among them: The King's Indian attack, 2. b3, or e4 gambit lines against Dutch set-ups. Although the book is written for the White player, it is objective. McDonald also gives improvements for black.The author:Neil McDonald is a British Grandmaster and an established writer who has played the Reti for many years himself.What I don't like:The Slav set-up covers way too much space. There is an annoying number of typos, even the analysis is not always correct. Unfortunately, there is too little information on the Reti in general and on move-order issues. This is particularly the case for the e6-setups.What I like:McDonald focuses on ideas and explanations rather than on theoretical lines. His annotations are very useful, and he avoids stereotypes that you can find in many other chess books.Evaluation:You can benefit a lot from studying the annotated games, even if you don't play the Reti. This book will certainly not outdate as fast as a theoretical tome.If you are looking for a repertoire book, you have an interesting alternative by another excellent author, Nigel Davies (The dynamic Reti). Both books are recommendable. However, if I had to choose, I'd go for McDonald's book.

I generally like Neil McDonald's books, partly because he seems to have some empathy for patzers, but this one just falls flat. Instead of an introduction to the Reti we are given a reasonable selection of annotated games with very little thematic guidance or instruction (Reti Benoni excepted) - just a selection of lines and some move order tips. The annotations are useful and well chosen, and I'm sure they will be of value once you already know or appreciate the opening, but they do very little to instruct someone starting out on the Reti. Isn't that what the book promises?There are numerous choices offered for many Black responses. On the one hand this empowers the reader to select his opening choice according to taste, but on the other hand it leads to a broad but very thin coverage and offers no consistent "view" with respect to the Reti. It is possible to piece together a coherent repertoire out of the disparate suggestions though, but it's left to you. Reminds me of Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice - "you can go with this, or you can go with that". To be fair, the plans are somewhat organized within each line - it's not just a typical annotated games stream of consciousness.There is also a chapter on non-Reti English lines that you will have to prepare for if you open 1.Nf3. But these English lines are very extensive and sophisticated and the skimpy treatment afforded them is so inadequate as to be a waste of paper. There is nothing at all on other responses like 1..d6, 1..Nc6 etc. Better would be just to catalog the lines so the reader is not caught unaware, perhaps suggest a consistent approach to them, and point to further reading.So, a short, moderately helpful "brain dump" by a knowledgeable practitioner, but not a didactic text. Maybe a bit harsh - I would have been happy with this a year ago - but the opening book game has gotten interesting recently, and I don't think McDonald got the memo. This isn't the Reti book we've been waiting for.

Das Buch ist zwar nicht mehr besonders aktuell, erscheint mir aber als guter erster Einstieg in Réti. Ich habe mir auch umfangreichere und aktuellere Bücher/Videoserien dazu besorgt, greife aber hauptsächlich auf dieses Buch zurück.Denn es bietet gute Orientierung, verständliche Erklärungen und überfordert mich als Vereinsspieler (im 1700er bis 1800er DWZ Bereich) nicht.Zum Thema "Orientierung im Réti" eine Bemerkung: Ich habe neben einführenden Büchern auch detaillierte Repertoire-Werke gekauft, die versuchen, lückenlos und vollständig zu sein. Leider ist das dann derart komplex, dass es zur Verzweiflung treibt. McDonald dagegen versucht gar nicht erst, ein vollständiges Repertoire anzubieten, sondern er diskutiert die gängigsten Systeme und verschiedene Alternativen. Das kritisieren verschiedene englischsprachige Rezensenten, aber meiner Meinung ist es genau der richtige Ansatz zum Einstieg! Denn Réti ist so flexibel, dass man daran verzweifeln kann. Ein auf Vollständigkeit bedachtes Buch ist für den normalen Vereinsspieler höchstens als Nachschlagewerk brauchbar. Komplett lernen kann man so etwas nur mit sehr viel Zeit im Laufe von Jahren.McDonald dagegen liefert gut kommentierte Beispiel-Partien und bespricht die wesentlichen Aufbau-Ideen, darunter einige Klassiker (Capablanca, Réti etc.). Natürlich ist das kein wasserdichtes Repertoire, aber es inspiriert und liefert die wichtigsten Ideen.Zum Autor ist zu sagen, dass er einerseits Motivation liefert, die Eröffnung zu studieren, indem er ihr Potential aufzeigt. Andererseits bleibt er objektiv und zeigt auch die Nachteile bestimmter Varianten.So konnte ich mit einiger Überraschung feststellen, dass einige Varianten, die auf einer später erschienenen Chessbase-DVD eines Großmeisters angepriesen wurden, bereits in diesem älteren Buch widerlegt sind.Deshalb meine Kaufempfehlung trotz des Alters.

A very good introduction to the position that occurs after 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 but the book does not cover very much else.This is not made totally clear on the cover, or on the back of the book, but its important, so it should be made clear.The final chapter covers positions that can occur via transpostions from the English opening or from Kings Indian defence and Dutch defence pawn structures etc. but not in great detail (the final chapter has 32 pages). The games in the final chapter are well chosen and well annotated, but in my view it could have been ommited without detracting from the book's overall merit.However, having said this I must add that the book is very well written and easy to understand. It is well layed out with plenty of white space, the typeface is clear, and a great deal of nicely annotated board diagrams are given, so that the book can be read without the aid of a board most of the time.The author concentrates on explaining the ideas behind the moves and the plans that can be followed when Reti type pawn structures arise, using some very well chosen and interesting games (rather than just giving a "database dump" of variations, as some books do). Personally I prefer this approach and I found the book to be very instructive, so I would thoroughly recommend it to people who are "starting out" with the Reti, as the book's title suggests.

Ouvrage un peu plus complet que celui de Nigel Davies "The Dynamic Reti" notamment en ce qui concerne la lutte contre la variante Réti-Benoni de plus en plus jouée côté Noirs à très haut niveau.

A very good guide for a club player up to about 1950 standard who wants to know the main lines.The book is easy to readIt covers the all main lines well with balanced coverage for Black and White. My game as Black against the Reti improved considerably after reading the book.A stronger player who plays the Reti as their main opening as White may need a more detailed book.

In diesem Buch gelingt es dem Autor durch seine Partieauswahl sehr gut, einen ersten Überblick über dieses interessante und oft unterschätzte Eröffnungssystem zu geben. Seine Auswahl bezieht hierbei überwiegend auf wirkliche Referenzpartien der neueren Zeit, was zur Aktualität des Buches besonders beiträgt. Zur Vertiefung bereits vorhandener Kenntnisse in diesem Eröffnungssystem ist das Buch allerdings nicht besonders geeignet, da es an der dann notwendigen theoretischen Tiefe der Abspiele mangelt. Fazit: Eine unbedingte Kaufempfehlung zum Einstieg in das Reti-System.