Richard Réti
- October 3, 2025
Chessmetrics Ranking: World number five in 1920 and 1921
Tournament Career: Winner of six super-tournaments:
Košice 1918, Rotterdam 1919, Amsterdam 1920, Gothenburg 1920, Teplice 1922, Vienna 1928
Chess Olympiads: Bronze individual medal
What earned him this:
Richard Réti was one of the best players in the world in the short period after World War I, during which he achieved most of his tournament victories. According to historical rankings, he was once ranked as high as fifth in the world, but then his career stalled. Even though he stopped winning tournaments, he still achieved many high placements. Just when it seemed he was making a comeback—after winning the tournament in Vienna in 1928—he was struck by a severe illness. He died in 1929 of scarlet fever at the age of just forty.
Réti was one of the prominent proponents of hypermodernism along with Aaron Nimzowitsch, Savielly Tartakower, and others.
Why he isn’t higher:
Réti is a typical example of a player who shone for a short time and then faded. He lacks consistency. His premature death also prevented him from achieving further successes. Even so, he remains one of the most significant figures in interwar international chess. Besides his results, he became well-known for his contributions to chess literature and chess problem composition.
Best Game:
Richard Réti vs José Raúl Capablanca
New York 1924
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Miroslav Janeček graduated in English Philology at Palacký University Olomouc. Currently he works in Prague as a content editor for a large marketing company. His roots are in Opava - the historic and cultural centre of the Czech part of Silesia. That city is also the home of Slezan Opava, the chess club where Miroslav started to play chess, later went on to work as a youth coach and which he to this day proudly represents. As an aspiring chess publicist, he is the main author of articles on ChessDB.cz. In his free time, in addition to chess and writing, he also devotes himself to racket sports, history, and literature.