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Starting Out: The Reti is neither a compendium nor a repertoire book; it is, as the title indicates, a book to introduce the reader to the opening. McDonald says that what appealed to him about the Reti is that gaining a feel and understanding for the positions is a greater strength than simply memorizing lines and this is a strength of the Reti. In other words, a bare minimum of sharp forcing lines that could change evaluation with a single tactical nuance, and a premium on understanding piece coordination. Readers will appreciate this: notes to the example games carry ideas behind the moves played and less analysis of long variations. A clear illustration is coverage of the line 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6, which has been christened the Reti Slav. Keene’s Flank Openings indicated that White should fianchetto both bishops against this line. The reasons for this were that classic Reti structure had both bishops fianchettoed, but more precisely it was believed that gambitting the c4 pawn after Black had played c6 was dubious. Evaluations in this line have changed because new resources in the gambit line have been found for White, and McDonald expounds that fianchettoing the Bc1 is less critical because White should have Qb3 available to pressure the b7 pawn, weakened by Black’s standard Bf5 or Bg4. Another place where the author does an exceptional job is in the “delayed capture” 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 dxc4. This line is viewed as an easy equalizer for Black, an evaluation that is brought into question by the notes in the demo games. These sections work very well because the author gives the effort to make the ideas clear for the reader. Working through the material in this book is both enjoyable and easy. The games have good clear notes and frame the opening well for a player new to the opening. McDonald went one step further in the final chapter by including material on the transpositions to the English, Kings Indian or Dutch. I liked this book, but have a couple of quibbles with it. Some of the material has an extraneous appearance. An example would be in the Reti Slav with Bf5 chapter. The first game is titled “Classical Approach to Bf5” and presents the famous Capablanca – Lilienthal game from Moscow 1936. The rest of the chapter is devoted to the “Modern Approach” with Qb3. I can appreciate including the Capa game on the grounds of an example of White’s strategy, but to suggest it as an alternative approach and then provide no further support seems poorly judged. I would either have put the game in the intro or left it out completely. In the chapter on 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 dxc4 White is presented with four choices (3.Na3, 3.Qa4+, 3.g3 and 3.e3), none of which seem to lead to an advantage for White. I would suggest two possible ideas. First is the 3.e4 gambit, which is a bit sharp, or a different transposition with 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 and c2-c4 on the third move.
To be clear, neither of
these is a major problem and the book is worth reading for the material on
the delayed exchange (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 dxc4) and the Closed Reti (1.Nf3
d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Nf6). I like McDonald’s books quite a bit and this is
another great piece of work from him. From the Publisher's website: English
Grandmaster Neil McDonald has firmly established himself as one of the
world's leading chess writers, with many outstanding works to his name. He
is also a respected chess coach, who has trained many of the UK's strongest
junior players.
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