Czechoslovakian Grandmaster, Top Theoretician and Endgame composer. A leading player in the 1920's. 1st at Gothenburg in 1920. In 1924 at the New York tournament he achieved a great win over Capablanca, the first loss the World Champion had suffered in 8 years. Reti is chiefly remembered for his contribution to the Hypermoderm Movement and his book Modern Ideas in Chess (1923). It deals with the development and history of chess strategy up to the time of hypermodern play and has become a classic. Reti regarded chess as an art and it is not surprising that he composed a number of chess endgame studies which are regarded as superb works of art.

At first it appears that Black has a strong threat with ...Be5 because when the Queen moves away ...Rh8 is mate. But White has a beautiful winning defence based on the idea of sacrificing the Queen to bring about zugzwang and take advantage of the poor placing of the rest of Black's army.

 Gens Una Sumus

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8X8 Basic Endings for Success

Pavett, 1862

White to play and WIN. 1.Ra2! Ke7 2.Rf2 Ng3 3.Rf3 Nh1 4.Kg6 Ke6 5.Kg5 Ke5 6.Kg4 Ke4 7.Rf1 WINS.

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I would like to briefly summarise the type of endings found on the site. These are; (a) Basic endings. (b) Practical chess endings. (c) The Endgame study.

(a) Basic Endings. These are theoretical positions in which we know the correct result with optimum play by both sides. They may consist of three pawns or less and also include all the non-pawn and five piece endings which have now been extensively analysed by computer and of which we have tablebases. In the days when we had adjournments some of these endings could be looked up in text books to give us some idea how to play the position. As we no longer can do this, knowledge and memory of these endings has become important in practical play. Fundamental Chess Endings (2001) by Muller and Lamprecht and Basic Endings (1992) by Balashov and Prandstetter and the earlier A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames (1970) by David Hooper are good introductions to these endings.

(b) Practical Endings. These occur in over-the-board play where usually more pawns are present. The above ending is an example of this type. Some of these endings are in the process of being transformed to basic endings but often they finish before this stage is reached. Endgame strategy is very different from the middlegame and has its own set of rules and exceptions. Fine's book Basic Chess Endings (1941,2003) recently revised by Pal Benko and Batsford Chess Endings (1993) by Speelman, Tisdall and Wade are about basic and practical endings and both can be recommended.

(c) Endgame Studies. These are positions which have been composed and will contain elements of one or both of the above types of endings. But there are important differences between these types and the study, such as artistic form and economy of construction. An endgame study has to follow strict rules of composition, especially if it is entered into a composing competition. One of these rules states there should only be one solution. If there is an unintended second solution then the study is unsound and said to be "cooked".