The powerful Reti Opening

As a d4 player, I've learned to start with 1.Nf3 and transpose into d4 openings. The advantage of this strategy is its great flexibility and also psychological confusion for Black.

Not knowing what White would do after 1.Nf3 d5, Black often plays some unusually bad moves in the very beginning of the game. Something like 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 e5, 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 c5, 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Bf5 and 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 g6.


I was facing a strong player in this game, he would never have played 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e5 because it looks unsound. But the 1.Nf3 move order has a lot of confusing power. It gives Black many options but most of them are bad. I strongly recommend d4 players to learn the 1.Nf3 transposition, it avoids many strong Black defenses like the Nimzo-Indian and Grunfeld and tricky gambits like the Old Benoni and Budapest Gambit.

Thanks, Dude I'm a d4 (& also OLD BENONI) player so this is very helpful for me...

@Ii_Chillanger_iI said in #2:
> Thanks, Dude I'm a d4 (& also OLD BENONI) player so this is very helpful for me...

When I play as Black, I usually play ...Nf6 against 1.Nf3. I think 1.Nf3 Nf6 is better than 1.Nf3 d5 for Black. 1.Nf3 c5 could work too, but Black must be prepared for the Sicilian theory.

I think the best defense for Black is 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5, transposing into a Grunfeld sideline. 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 c6 is Slav defense modern variation, which is tricky for Black at my level.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Bg7 5. c3 Qb6 transposes into the 'refute' line of London system, which has bad performance record for White.

1 Nf3 is not the Reti.

?? It may have annoying or confusing value, but not a pawn worth on move on move 2. I dont play d4 myself, but i dont know about any gambit with 2 e5. It was straight gifted to you. I could easily dominate people of my rank with 1 extra pawn in move 2 as well. It wasnt the opening, it was the blunder.