Masters of the Chessboard

by leepenny2001
(Illinois, USA)

Richard Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929) was an ethnic Jewish, Austrian-Hungarian, later Czechoslovakian chess player, chess author, and composer of endgame studies. One of the top players in the world during the 1910s and 1920s, he began his career as a combinative classical player.

After first World War, his playing style changed, and he became one of the main followers of hypermodernism, as did Aron Nimzowitsch and many others. In 1925 he set the world record for blindfold chess with twenty-nine games played simultaneously. He won twenty-one, drew six, and lost two.

His books are classics. Modern Ideas in Chess (1923) and Masters of the Chess Board (1933) are still studied today.

I have studied and read Masters of the Chessboard in detail over and over again. The book is the reason for my improvement in the game of chess. It is packed with ideas on the Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame in chess. Every serious student of chess should have this book in their chess library.

There are other chess books that I own, but Masters of the Chessboard is, and always will be, my favorite.