ChessPub Forum - The Reti Gambit

Wonderer Guest	The Reti Gambit 02/02/04 at 12:25:38 Has anybody had any experiences with 1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 _? Black seems to have two main options, 3...Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Qg4 or 3...de4 4.Nc3 Nf6 when white has a choice of 5.g4!? which I think looks nice and aggressive but according to Psakhis, 5.Qe2 is white's only move more or less, but I'm not very fond of 5...Nc6 here...
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MNb God Member Offline Rudolf Spielmann forever Posts: 7590 Moengo Gender:	Re: The Reti Gambit Reply #1 - 02/02/04 at 18:26:30 Tim McGrew wrote a nice article on this gambit at chesscafe not long ago.
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Wonderer

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Re: The Reti Gambit
Reply #2 - 02/03/04 at 12:40:00

Yes, I know, that's were I heard about it. It's in Nigel Davis' current article at chesscafe too, so this gambit seems very fashionable at the moment!

It does seem to give white equality without learning lines 20 moves deep! Cheesy

At least, that's the impression I got after reading psakhis' new books on the french. If white can't get an advantage, why doesn't all grandmasters play the french as black? Grin

Anyway, what does the frenchies here think of 2.b3, is it as annoying as it is supposed to be? ???

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dom God Member Offline Posts: 679 Toulouse Gender:	Re: The Reti Gambit Reply #3 - 02/04/04 at 06:25:06 URL to McGrew's paper (The Gambit Cartel - Terra incognita): http://www.chesscafe.com/text/mcgrew14.pdf For "frenchie analysis":... "I'll be back"
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Wanderer

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Re: The Reti Gambit
Reply #4 - 02/04/04 at 18:57:58

I'm eagerly awaiting! Guess the analysis from a frenchman playing the french must be worth waiting for!

Tried the Reti Gambit down at my club last evening, and had a whole lot of blitz games going:

1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 c5 4.Qe2 Nc6 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.Nc3 Qd8 7.Nf3 Nf6 8.0-0-0 Be7 9.g4 Nd4 10.Nxd4 cxd4 11.Ne4 and not until here did my two opponents go separate ways. But after a couple of games with 12.g4-g5? I found 12.f4! and got very good play.

3.-Nf6 or 3.-dxe4 are probably more critical, but it was nice to discover that my opponents couldn't find a way to something frenchy!

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dom

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Re: The Reti Gambit
Reply #5 - 02/05/04 at 07:36:09

OK and thank you for your game (post many others !)
Il will post soon some analysis, but I want just comment here that I don't like 3...c5 and prefer the "normal" line 3....dxe4.
For Black players who like closed opening then Watson's advice 3...Nf6 is worth playing, but I feel Ng8!? is better then Nfd7 after e5, when long diagonal b2-g7 is closed and Black will play wait-and-see system with Nh6-Nf5-h5 system. Yes, it's strange but, Black can then avoid Qg4 with knight on h6 or f5 square (same idea than in system with early Be7 in the Tarrasch variation...see McDonald recent updates).
For White players,one question is: 3.Nc3 more interesting than 3.Bb2 ?

As Black, I'll prefer not playing c5, because one of Black's positionnal plan is to play for the exchange of the fianchetto bishop with Bb4-Qe7-Ba3 and then a5. As Davies wrote, Black and White must play many games to choose between variations when game features opposite castling...and as speed is always a factor, why not playing earlly a5 ?

For opening's history: see game Reti-Marockzy,Goteborg,1920 and look at Tartakower and Spielmann games, or maybe read Schiller's book about unorthodox openings. I have noticed that Tim Harding doesn't mention the gambit in "Four gambit's to beat the French"...may be it will be the #5 and Korchnoi's gambit (Ngf3 in the Tarrasch) the #6.
The gambit is given too in Minev's book "New and Forgotten ideas about the French" but the subject of the book is to give ideas and not complete analysis.

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Wonderer

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Re: The Reti Gambit
Reply #6 - 02/05/04 at 14:28:15

Well, since you liked the last game fragment and asked for more, here's another one fresh off the press (or fritz's chess server to be exact). As can be seen below, even GMs can lose to the Reti Gambit, at least in blitz... Cheesy

Perhaps black's Nc6-d4 isn't as disturbing as I thought when I first looked at it.

Unfortunately, Grin

I won the 2nd game as well, so he logged off before I got the chance to try it a 2nd time... 8)

HateCrime (2227) - Jon Levitt (2359) [C00]
Rated game, 5m + 0s Main Playing Hall, 05.02.2004

1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 dxe4 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Qe2 Be7 6.0-0-0 0-0 7.g4 Nc6 8.Nxe4 Nd4 9.Qd3 c5 10.Nxf6+ Bxf6 11.f4 b5 12.Bg2 Rb8 13.Be4 c4 14.Bxh7+ Kh8 15.Qh3 Bb7 16.g5 Nxb3+ 17.axb3 Bxb2+ 18.Kxb2 Re8 19.Be4+ Kg8 20.Qh7+ Kf8 21.Bxb7 Rxb7 22.Nf3 cxb3 23.c3 b4 24.Qh8+ Ke7 25.Qxg7 Qd3 26.Qxf7+ Kd8 27.Qf6+ Kc8 28.Nd4 Rd8 29.Qxe6+ Kb8 30.Qe5+ Ka8 31.Nxb3 bxc3+ 32.dxc3 Qxd1 33.Rxd1 Rxd1 34.Qe8+ Rb8 35.Qe4+ Rb7 36.Kc2 Time (Lag: Av=0.20s, max=0.7s) Jon Levitt resigns 1-0

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dom

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Re: The Reti Gambit
Reply #7 - 02/07/04 at 10:48:07

Yes, I was wrong: the gambit can be found in Harding's book in chapter "Lesser gambits".

After: 1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 (3.Nc3 d4) dxe4 4.Nc3 (or 4.Qe2) Nf6 5.Qe2 (5.g4 Bd7!? - to me : "Fort Knox's strategy" , Black will control light squares diagonal with Bc6 - 6.g5 (6.Bg2 Bc6!? 7.Qe2 h5! 8.g5 Nd5 9.Nh3 Nxc3 10.Bxc3 Qd5 Gelashvili-Socko,Panormo 2001 (Psakhis) or 7.g5 Nd5 8.Nxe4 h6!? (Dom) ) Nd5 7.Nxe4 Bc6 8.Ne2 (on other moves 8.Bg2,8.Qe2,8.Nh3 then 8...h6!? Nf4 9.Nxf4 Bxe4 10.Rg1 Nc6 11.Bd3 Bg6 12.Qf3 Qd6=) Fb4 6.ooo Qe7 7.Kb1!? (7.Nxe4 Ba3 8.Nf3 Bxb2+ 9.Kxb2 oo 10.d4 a5!? Minev's advice or 8.Nxf6!? Qxf6! 9.d4 Bxb2+ 10.Kxb2 oo 11.Nf3 Rd8 12.Qe4 c5 13.Bd3 g6 14.Qe5 Qxe5 15.dxe5 Nc6 16.h4 h6 17.Be4 Tartakower-Keres,Parnu 1937) Bxc3 8.Bxc3 a5 (Dom)

Alternative approach to FortKnox idea (Bd7-Bc6) is early b6-Bb7 (playable but doesn't fit with d5 move for Black)

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bckm

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Re: The Reti Gambit
Reply #8 - 02/29/04 at 22:10:44

John Watson's new version of "Play the French" recommends 2...b6!?, which I played the one and only time someone played 2.b3 against me. I won quickly because my opponent just wanted to get the game over with quickly and leave the tournament to go home, so I can't attach any importance to the game itself. Needless to say, though, while 2.b3 prepares a healthy development of the bishop, it doesn't generally mix well with a pawn on e4 and shouldn't worry many French players. After Watson's recommendation of 2...b6!? and ...Bb7, the "Frenchie" will have the e-pawn as a nice target.

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Panda Guest	Re: The Reti Gambit Reply #9 - 03/02/04 at 14:23:22 On the other hand, the frenchie will soon find himself in a sicilian position instead of his typical frenchie position. Nice that Watson hasn't found anything better than 2,,,b6 which he recommended in his first play the French book.
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