Openings · A04–A09

Réti Opening

1.Nf3 — a developing move that controls e5, commits to nothing, and can become almost any other opening.

1.Nf3played as White

Play it through on the board below, and 8 moves into the main line.

Practise the line

You play White; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded. The line runs on past the moves that define the opening and into the main line, because two moves is not a drill.

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Your move 1 of 50/5
  1. 1.Nf3d5
  2. 2.c4e6
  3. 3.g3Nf6
  4. 4.Bg2Be7
  5. 5.O-O

Your move. Drag a piece, or tap it and then its square.

The idea

The hypermodern idea is to let Black occupy the centre and then attack it from the side: c4 against a pawn on d5, a bishop on g2 along the long diagonal, and the d-pawn kept at home on d3 where it does not block anything.

The practical idea is move order. 1.Nf3 rules out a great deal of Black's sharpest preparation, and it can transpose into the English, the Catalan or a Queen's Gambit at the moment of White's choosing. What it cannot do is play itself.

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level: named traps and the errors every coach corrects.

Using it as a waiting move

After 6…c5
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
The mistake
Playing Nf3, g3, Bg2, O-O and d3 without ever deciding what the centre is for.
Why it costs
Black has spent the same moves taking the middle of the board, and the position is now a King's Indian with colours reversed in which White's extra tempo has been spent on nothing in particular. Flexible is not a plan; it is a decision that has not been made yet.
Instead
Play c4 while the pawn on d5 is still there. Hitting d5 from c4 is what makes this the Réti rather than a slow start.

Blocking the bishop you fianchettoed

After 6…c5
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
The mistake
Playing d4 and c3, with the bishop already on g2.
Why it costs
The bishop's entire life is the long diagonal, and a pawn of your own on d4 sits on it. Black answers …c5 and …Nc6, the position locks, and the best piece of the setup spends the game looking at the back of a pawn chain.
Instead
c4 rather than c3, so the diagonal opens when the centre is traded. If a pawn on d4 is what is wanted, 1.d4 gets there without the detour.

Leaving the wedge on d4 alone

After 6…Be7
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
The mistake
Meeting 2…d4 by developing round it and hoping the pawn becomes weak by itself.
Why it costs
It does not. Black follows with …e5, …Nc6 and …Bd6, and the space advantage that was supposed to be temporary becomes the whole middlegame. A pawn wedge is undermined by pawns, not admired by pieces.
Instead
b4 or e3 — hit d4 from the side or from underneath. The move can wait a couple of moves; it cannot wait ten.

In real games between beginners

  • 1 in 47games end with White giving checkmate by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 33.
  • 1 in 56games end with White getting checkmated by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 54.

From 12,545 Lichess games in this opening between players rated under 1200, blitz and slower, September 2026. How we counted.

What the engine says

After 1.Nf3, these are Black's six best moves according to Stockfish, with the bar showing Black's chance of winning. The whole list sits within 3 percentage points of win chance: none of them is a mistake, and the choice is about the positions you want to play.

  1. e6+0.3
  2. Nf6+0.3
  3. d5+0.3
  4. c6+0.3
  5. Nc6+0.5
  6. c5+0.5

The engine's main line from e6: e6 d4 Nf6 c4 d5 g3 dxc4 Bg2.

Stockfish 18, depth 24. Scores are in pawns from White's side. Another engine or depth will move individual numbers a little; the picture does not change. How we check.

Where it fits

One line out of it has a page of its own: King's Indian Attack.

Analyse a game you played in itAll openings