“I’ve got a new opening,” Nick said ahead of our club championship match the other night. After a few moves I realised I’d seen it before. “Oh, it’s a Réti,” I said. “Is it?”, he replied, “I thought I’d made it up!” Some years ago I experimented with the Réti until I came to the conclusion that either (a) it wasn’t very good, (b) I wasn’t very good or (c) both. Rather like W.G.Grace’s view on batting, at the time I considered all other openings then settled on 1. e4 and I have been yoked to the King’s pawn for good or ill ever since. Of course, it is also possible that I just didn’t know the Réti very well and here it is many years later returning to bite me on the bottom. Well, not so because as it turns out, Nick didn’t know it very well either….In the final position White resigned before the inevitable 33….Bb2.
White: Nick McBride (173) Black: Robert Page (135)
Goodall Cup