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Top Ten Games Of Richard Réti- #7- The Inevitable Mate
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Top Ten Games Of Richard Réti- #7- The Inevitable Mate

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In an open position, the safety of the king should be the first consideration.

An extremely important idea we often forget. Maybe we have just won material and forgot about the king, or we are too busy developing our attack that we forgot our opponent's attacks. The important part is that we left the king vulnerable to attacks, often leading to mate.

A huge example of this idea was when Max Euwe, fifth world champion, and 12-time Dutch national championship winner, bluntly captured two undefended rooks but in return left his king extremely ill-protected. When Euwe noticed the first sign of the attack, it was too late. Forced mate in 5.

Réti and Euwe playing- Not this game but I needed a word break

The game starts with Réti playing the white pieces, opening with 1.d5, and Euwe turns it into a Dutch defense while playing 1.f5, while Réti gambits (famously known as the Staunton gambit) his pawn on e4, which we saw a lot more in the 1910s-20s. Almost 4 percent of all games played in the 1910-the 20s winded up in this position, but the numbers have been decreasing ever since. A huge reason why is because the engine.. just doesn't like it. It is aggressive, and the most fun way to counter the Dutch, but it has a very low draw rate, and black has the higher win percentage among masters. But... it is the second move. How could you mess up the second move?

Black takes the pawn. The idea is to at least threaten the recapture, with Nc3, but black can protect it in two ways. First with d4, but then there is Qh5+, g6, and they will win back the pawn with Qxd4. Or, you can move the knight to protect it, and block the square where the queen comes in with check, which would not be a fun position to play in. 

So the knight is thrust out of the starting square, where Euwe follows. 

How about complicating the game a little bit? Black can get nervous when the only defender of the e pawn is threatened, which is rightfully the best idea with Bg5, but instead of preparing for the capture, they push on g6, which is still tactically just as good, but a lot more sound. 

Many new ideas after seeing the unseen 4..g6 can be discovered, but in almost every Dutch defense Saunton gambit accepted, the one move they all have in common is f3.

Why? because if they take, then both of the knights will be put on the spot, and it will make the game a slow, maneuvering game, where Reti will outplay Euwe in the middle game, and if they don't take, and play d5, then the lost pawn is back

Euwe takes the gambited pawn, which Réti recaptures with the knight, to get a very basic, and largely studied pawn and knight structure, to make the game close to drawn. But the advantage is thrown away with 7...c5 (?), which leaves the newly pushed pawn with no defenders, and prone to capture with dxc5. but I personally think it is ok to gambit this pawn because from blacks viewpoint, it evens up the material and it leaves white with no center pawns, whereas black will still have the king's pawn and the queens pawn. That just seems a little hard to play as white, and Réti must have thought that as well because he pushed 8.d5?! instead of taking.                                                                                                                                                 
But pushing allows the queen to start a war for b2, with Qd2. Now the sensible thing would be to push on b3, but then there is Ng4, Na4, Qd6, c3, and h6, and that leaves white with a gross knight that has nowhere to go, a weak bishop that is virtually useless, a pinned pawn that can be heavily attacked, and a terrible defense on the kingside, where black has a knight that has lots of power and opportunity, a queen that aids the knight, and a bishop that threatens the queenside. Sooo... not so great.                                                                                                                                                                                                     
The engine suggests 9.d6, Qxd6, 0-0, Nc6, Qd2, and 0-0 but d6 just looks weird. If you see d6 and see it is good, You know your lines. (the hopes of d6 are if they take the b pawn then you have Nb5, castle, and you take their pawn, and now you have a pawn one step away from promotion)                                                                 
But the best move, and the one that was played, is just to completely give up that pawn, and save the knight, with Qd2.
This was the last point the game was drawn.
Now we get to the good part. 
Taking on b2 with a queen was a risky move because after the rook hits the queen, it only has one square to go, and once it is there, the queen probably should retreat by using the diagonal, and you will get away with it like a smooth criminal.   
But this is where it gets complicated.
Instead of retreating the queen, Euwe triple kicks the knight, and lets go of the queen.
But before you go on saying "argel barrel! isn't that a free queen takes the queen!" well, sure. Let's try it.
Rxb2?, and Bxc3, which for black, wins back the queen, with an excellent queen-king pin, while still gaining an extra three points in material. 
Another sensible option to get away from this mess would be to castle, but then the queen just takes the knight and you are down 6 points. No sir, that's disgusting and gross this is not 500-level chess. 
No, none of that works. Your only option is to sacrifice a rook and take the knight. 

Black cant pin your queen to the king, because of the knight, so they just take the rook instead with Rxb1+. Blocking with queen looks like a very human move to play, but after they take your queen and you recapture it, your pieces are all scattered around with the only good-placed piece being your knight, which can fork the king and rook, but after that you have nothing. 
So to avoid a null and losing game, Réti gives up the second rook with Kf2!, and of course, they take it with Qxh1. 
Now, generally speaking, you might try to do a very long and complicated process of Nc7+, Kd8, and not taking the rook back, but sacrificing the bishop with Bxe7+ (Kxe7 mate in 14) Kxc7, Qf4+, Kb6, Qd6+, Nc6, Qxc5+ Kc7, Bd6+, Kd8, Qg5+, Ke8+, Bxg6, hxg6, Qxg6, Kd8, Qxg7, and the only way for black to stop mate is to give up the queen. So you can guess that he played Bxe7 instead, which still is accurate, but not as great as that 100-move plan to win a queen above, but that's perfectly fine because Euwes's next move just flat out gives a free pawn for Réti to take (d6), and you can guess that Réti took it with 14.Bxd6, 14...Nc6, and Bb5. 
The next move played, is also a mistake on Euwe's part. He develops a bishop and defends the knight so he doesn't get doubled pawn, which normally isn't bad, since more pieces mean better position (usually), but Euwe should be in defense mode, trying to defend his king. 
Réti punished Euwe for his errors, by taking the knight, with Euwe wrongfully replying by capturing it with the wrong piece, and Réti finished the game by checking Euwes king with 17.Qe2+. 
Can you find this mate?
It is a very similar game to this blog, but I think any game with a successful double rook sacrifice deserves to be a career highlight. 
Another flawless win

Top Ten Games Of Réti 

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