ChessBase Reti Opening Powerbook 2025

The Reti Powerbook opening guide is based on an average of at least 2,300 games. This means that 137,000 games from Mega and correspondence chess exceeded the Powerbook's input threshold, plus 295,000 games from playchess.com.

The original move order according to Richard Reti was 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 followed by a fianchetto with g3 or b3 (or even a double fianchetto), but today the term Reti opening is much broader and includes most possible variations after 1.Nf3 without directly leading to the famous "big" openings. Players can play 2.g3 (sometimes also 2.b3) more flexibly, often followed by 3.Bg2 and 4.0-0. Depending on Black's position, the player will decide how to proceed. The Reti-Powerbook includes as many openings as possible after the move 1.Nf3, but no variations with early d2-d4 moves, such as leading to Catalan or King's Indian.

The most common moves are 1...d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.0-0 and at this point Black has to choose between two moves that are almost certainly played Equal are 4...Bg4 and 4...Bf5. The second move seems like a good choice as it preserves the Bishop, but Powerbook points to a path to White's advantage: 5.c4 e6 6.Qb3 Qb6 7.d3

Reti Opening

In the 1920s, the so-called "super-moderns" abandoned the dogma that from the beginning of the game, the center must be occupied by pawns. Instead of playing 1.e4 or 1.d4, they opened with 1.Nf3 and allowed Black to continue with the classical play of 1...d5. This led to the opening of the Richard Réti system (1889–1929), which he played very successfully against the strongest opponents from 1923 onwards. In the Reti system, White keeps the central pawns for a while; instead, they strengthen their influence in the center by playing fianchetto g3, Bg2 and planning to attack Black's d pawn with c2-c4 – either on the second or later move.