Reti was among the best players in the world during his prime which was during the 1910s and 1920s. He started out as a classical, but tactical player, who favored openings like the King's Gambit. However, after the First World War his style changed and he became a proponent of Hypermodernism.
The following game does not appear in Golombek's book probably because it was "only" a draw. It does, however, appear in Alekhine's collection of his best games...with his usual hype of course.
Although the game was a draw, what a draw it was! It features some excellent positional play and Reti salvaging an inferior ending, but more than that, it features a ten move long tactical sequence by Alekhine that is as instructive as it is astonishing.
The game was played in Vienna, 1922, which was one of the first great events after World War One. Alekhine's fourth place tie was something of a surprise, but it was only a minor setback in his career.
Alexander Alekhine–Richard Reti½–½C77Vienna1922Stockfish 14.1
Ruy Lopez 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 a6 4.a4 f6 5.c3 b5 6.b3 c5
Alekhine commented that if it was black's intention to play ...Bc5 he should
have done so before playing 5...b5 because the text move needlessly exposes
black to "grave perils." In my database 6...Bc5 gives black much better
results than Alekhine's recommendation of 6...Be7, but I suspect that may be
because in many of those games white did not follow up correctly. 7.xe5
Alekhine says this gives white an extremely dangerous attack in every
variation. Again, my database shows that after this move does quite well which
is the reason for my conclusion in the previous note. xe5 8.d4 d6 Uusual,
but not bad. Black usually plays 8...Bxd4 8...xd4 9.xd4 d6 10.f4 c5 11.d2 g6 equals. Rzayev,B (2411)-Durarbayli,V (2600)/Baku 2016 9.dxe5 xe5 10.f4 Alekhine awarded himself aan exclamation mark for this. Stockfish
thinks it's an overly aggressive move that favors black. The mundane 10.Nd5
was satisfactory. 10.d2 b7 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 xc3 13.xc3 xe4 14.f3 xc3 15.xb7 Black is better after 15...Ne2+ Nolot,C-Bertrand,M/Aix les
Bains 2006 10...xc3+ 11.bxc3 White's P-structure is ruined, but in
return he has good attacking possibilities. However, black has not made any
mistakes and with careful play, he should be able to withstand the onslaught. 0-0 11...xe4 runs into 12.xf7+ 12.d5 This faux pas was given by
Alekhine in his book, but it loses quite handily! xc3 13.f3 xd5 14.xd5 h4+ 15.g3 f6 16.xa8 0-0 17.e4 xa1 and white's down a bunch of Ps. 12...xf7 13.d5+ f6 Other moves lose. 14.xa8 e7 15.e3 g3 16.d2 e4+ 17.d3 c6 White is slightly better after he extricates his Q. 12.e5
Here's where things get interesting! Black's N on f3 is attacked and it is
apparently forced to retreat to e8 after which black's position is badly
cramped. Alekhine gave Reti credit for finding the only move that gave him
defensive chances and Reti was also praised for the exemplary manner in which
he conducted the defense. c5 This excellent move takes advantage of the
limited mobility of the B on b3. Should white take the N, because he is not
castled black can equalize fairly easily. 13.a3 One spectator claimed that
when Alekhine played this move he banged the B onto a3 so hard that it was
heard throughout the playing hall. The move pins the P and leads to some
pretty complicated play. At the end of the tactical sequence white ends up
winning a P, but that's all! 13.exf6 e8+ 14.f2 c4 15.e1 Best b6+ 16.d4 xd4+ 17.cxd4 xe1 18.xe1 gxf6 19.xc4 bxc4 20.d5 b7 21.b2 e8+ 22.f2 xd5 23.d1 c6 24.xf6 The position is completely equal. 13...a5
This move attacks the B on a3 and indirectly defends the c-Pawn. Unfortunately,
it also yields the advantage to white. In fact, Alekhine's combination is
based upon the temporary removal of black's Q from the center. 13...b7
This is the correct move that keeps the chances balanced. 14.xc5 e4 15.xf8 h4+ 16.g3 xg3 White has two ways of equalizing. 17.hxg3 17.e7 xf4 18.hxg3 Also equalizing is 18.Qd4 xg3+ 19.d2 f4+ 20.e1 black
must take the draw by repetition. 17...xg3+ 18.d2 xf4+ 19.e1 xe5+ 20.e2 xc3+ 21.f2 xf8 In this crazy unbalanced position Shootouts tresulted
black managing to draw all five games. 14.0-0 White aoms to take advantage
of the exposed position of black's R on a8 and the fact that after an eventual
exf6 black's K will be exposed. 14.xc5 xc3+ wins the B. 14...xa3 15.exf6 c4 Reti is unconcerned about the reply 16.Qd5 and rightfully so. It
looks like black will be, after his move, a piece ahead. 16.d5 Attacking
two weak points in black's position...the R and the K-side with Qg5
threatening mate. It may look grim, but Reti has a resource. a5 And this is
it. 16...gxf6 17.xa8 cxb3 18.cxb3 c5+ 19.h1 d5 and white is winning. 16...b8 17.g5 wins outright. 17.fxg7 The importance of this
exchange will be clear in three more moves. b6+ 18.h1 xg7 He has to take
the P at once. 18...e8 19.xc4 bxc4 20.xa8 b7 21.xb7 xb7 22.fe1
White is the exchange up with a winning position. 19.xc4 Amazing! the
doomed B gains fresh life. b7 The only move that doesn't lose. 19...bxc4 20.xa8 b7 21.ab1 White is the exchange up no matter what. 20.e5+
Look back to move 17. If the P was still on f6 this saving check would not be
playable. f6 21.d3 The fascinating chain of complications of the previous
few moves have come to an end. White is a P ahead, but that's not enough to
win. fe8 Reti surrenders another P in order to occupy the e-file with his
Rs...a good decision. 22.h5 h6 23.g4+ h8 24.xd7 e7 25.d4 xd4 26.cxd4 d8 27.f5 Alekhine is still thinking of attacking. The idea is to play
f6 when he has hopes of attacking the K. Instead of capturing the d-Pawn Reti
prefers to play it safe and guard against that possibility. 27.c3 There is
no good way for white to defend the d-Pawn. e3 28.ad1 28.fd1 g8 29.d5 xd5 30.f1 28...c8 27...f6 28.ae1 Alekhine wants to give back a P to
rid himself of black's strong B. Besides, he can't possibly defend all of his
Ps anyway. g7 28...xe1 loses 29.xe1 g8 29...xd4 loses outright. 30.e8+ 30.e2 d5 31.a3 White has a won ending. 29.e4 xd4 30.xb7 xb7 31.e6 Temporarily winning another P. g7 32.xa6 c4 33.f3
There was no way to defend the c-Pawn. xc2 The remainder of the game lends
credence to the saying that all double R endgames are drawn. 34.h3 f7 35.g3 f2 36.g6 xf5 37.xh6 g7 38.h4 b4 39.g4+ f7 40.g3 fb5 41.b3 g6 42.h2 c5 43.a4 cb5 44.h4 5b6 45.h3 b8 46.g3 f5 47.a5 c8 48.f3 f6 49.g2 c3 50.a8 50.xc3 bxc3 51.c5 a6 draws 50...xf3 51.xf3 c6 52.b8 The game I downloaded from 365Chess gives white's move as 52.
Rg8+ with the game being drawn on move 61. I am using the sequence given in
Alekhine's book as it is generally considered correct. But is it? Alekhine was
known to doctor games! In any case, the outcome of a draw was the correct one. 52.g8+ f6 53.f8+ g6 54.b8 c4 55.b6+ g7 56.h5 d4 57.c6 e4 58.g6+ f7 59.g4 xg4= 60.xg4 fxg4+ 61.xg4 g7 52...c4 53.b6+ g7 54.h5 d4 55.c6 e4 56.g6+ f7 57.g4 xg4 58.xg4 fxg4+ 59.xg4 g7
Draw agreed. Black's K will arrive just in time to stop the a-Pawn. 59...g7 60.g5 h7 61.h6 g8 62.g6 h8 63.f5 63.h7 b3 64.axb3 Stalemate 63...h7 64.e4 xh6 65.d4 g6 66.c4 f7 67.xb4 e6 68.b5 d7 69.b6 c8 70.a4 b8 draw ½–½
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