Some positions of Richard Réti

I like studies with few pieces. Richard Réti created some wonderful such studies.

Position 1. White to play and win.

1929

Solution: 1.Rf2 Kxe5 2.Kxe7 f4 3.Rf1 (see Position 2).

Position 2. White to play and win.

Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, 1 Jan 1928 (1, p. 30)

Solution: 1.Rd3! d4 2.Rd1! maintains the opposition. The white king will stay on the side opposite to the black king.

Position 3. White to play and win.

Kölnische Volkszeitung, Jan 1928

Solution: 1.Kf2! Ke4 2.Kxe2 Kd4! 3.Rg1 Ke4! (3...Kc3 4.Re1 Kb2 5.Kd2 Kb3 6.Rc1) 4.Re1! (key position) 4...Ke5 5.Ke3 Ke6 6.Ke4

An idea that shows itself only several moves later

White to play and win. This position was shown to me and some other friends by GM Spyridon Skembris several years ago in a chess club.

Elkies, Noam D. Shahmat. 3rd HM, Czerniak memorial Shahmat, 1986.

For example, if 1.Kg7 Nxh6 2.Kxh6 Ke3! 3.c5 bxc5 4.b6 c4 5.b7 c3 6.b8=Q c2, now 7.Qf4+ is of course impossible because of 7...Kxf4 (this is why 2...Ke3 was better than 2...Kd3) and there is no skewer in h6 after 7.Qh2 because the white king is on h6. After 7.Kg5 Qd2 Black manages to draw because of the Bishop pawn on c2. So the idea is to free the h6 square by playing 1.h7!! Nf6+ 2.Kg7 Nxh7 3.Kxh7 Ke3 4.c5 bxc5 5.b6 c4 6.b7 c3 7.b8=Q c2 8.Qh2 c1=Q 9.Qh6+.

Some of my favorite chess positions

 Position 1. White to play and win.

Solution: 1.Rb7 Rf8+ 2.Qxf8+ Kg6+ 3.Kg8 Rh8+ 4.Kxh8 Qh1+ 5.Qh6+!! Qxh6+ 6.Kg8

Position 2. White to play and win.

Gurgenidze D, Kalandadze V (19??).

Solution: 1.e8=N Rg1 2.Kh5 Re1 3.g5 Rg1 4.Kh6 Re1 5.g6 Rg1 6.Kh7 Re1 7.g7 Rg1 8.Kh8 Re1 9.g8=Q Rg1 10.Qg7 Re1 11.Kh7 Rg1 12.Qg6 Re1 13.Kh6 Rg1 14.Qg5 Re1 15.Kh5 Rg1 16.Qg4 Re1 17.Kh4 Rg1 18.Qg3 Re1 19.Nd6 Re4+ 20.Kh3 Rh4+ 21.Kg2

Position 3. White to play and checkmate in 20 moves.

Palevičius, Mečislavas (1984).

Solution: 1.Ke7 Kc5 2.Ke6+ Kb5 3.Bh6 Kc5 4.Be3+ Kb5 5.Bg5 Kc5 6.Be7+ Kb5 7.Bh4 Kc5 8.Bf2+ Kb5 9.e3 Kc5 10.e4+ Kb5 11.Bh4 Kc5 12.Be7+ Kb5 13.Bg5 Kc5 14.Be3+ Kb5 15.Bh6 Kc5 16.Bf8+ Kb5 17.Ke7 Kc5 18.Kd8+ Kb5 19.Nf3 Kc6 20.Nd4#

Position 4. White to play and win.

Solution: 1.Bd2+ b4 2.Bxb4+ Kb5 3.Nd6+ Kb6 4.Ba5+!! Kxa5 5.Nc4+ Kb5 6.Kf4!! c5 7.d5 f5 8.Kg5!! f4 9.f3

Position 5. White to play and ...?

Kubbel', Karl Artur Leonid Ivanovich (1916).

Solution: 1.f7 Rf8 2.e6 b6 3.Kb7 Kc5 4.e7!! Rxf7 5.Ka6 Rxe7 stalemate

Position 6. White to play and win.

Joseph, David - Sunday Express, 27 Dec 1921

Solution: 1.b6+ Kb8! 2.h4 a5 3.h5 a4 4.h6 a3 5.h7 a2 6.h8=Q a1=Q 7.Qf8! Qa3 8.Qe8 Qa4 9.Qe5+ Ka8 10.Qh8

Position 7. White to play and win.

Solution: 

Position 8. Another suicidal rook theme. White to play and win.

Solution: 1.e3 Rxe3+ 2.c3 Rxc3+ 3.Ka2 Ra3+ 4.Kb1 Ra1+ 5.Kc2 Rc1+ 6.Kd3 Rc3+ 7.Ke2 Re3+ 8.Kf1 Re1+ 9.Kg2 Rg1+ 10.Kf3 Rxg3+ 11.Ke2 Re3+ 12.Kd1 Re1+ 13.Kc2 Rc1+ 14.Kb3 Rc3+ 15.Ka2 Ra3+ 16.Rxa3# (actually the "best" line is 15...Rxc7 16.Rh8+ Rc8 17.Rxc8# since White needs one more move to checkmate).

Position 9. White to play and win.

Rigaer Tageblatt, 1909

Solution: 1.Bc5 Rc8 2.Bb6+ Ke8 3.Bc7!! or 1...Kc8 2.Ba7

Position 10. White to play and win.

Réti, Richard, 1st Prize - Шахматы, Apr 1928 (330)

Solution: 1.Kh6 Be5 2.Kg7 Bh2 3.c4 bxc4 4.e5!! Bxe5 5.bxc4

Basic positions

Here below are some positions that I consider to be basic, in the sense that they should be well-known by any tournament player. They are not necessarily easy.