LaviChess

Réti's miniature

One of the most brilliant players of the day let himself be caught out in ten moves by the young Richard Réti. A queen sacrifice and a double check were enough.

  • WhiteRichard Réti
  • BlackSavielly Tartakower
  • WhereVienna
  • When1910
  • EventCasual game with a clock, for a stake of ten crowns
  • Result1–0, White won
  • OpeningCaro-Kann Defense (B15)
  • Length11 moves

The game was played in Vienna in 1910, and it was no blitz game. According to Georg Marco, who published it in his chess column in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt on April 1, 1910, it was played with a clock, at 15 moves an hour, and for a stake of ten crowns. Tartakower himself called it a Freipartie, a casual game outside any tournament.

Marco wrote that Tartakower, one of the most brilliant players of the day, had let himself be caught out in ten moves by the young master Richard Réti. To reassure Tartakower's friends, he added that Tartakower sought revenge in the next game, and got it.

The chess writer Irving Chernev called it “probably the most famous of all miniature games.” Still, the idea wasn't entirely new: Edward Winter and others have found several older games with the same queen sacrifice and the same kind of mate, including one from Paris in 1863.

The players

Richard Réti (1889–1929) was born in Bazin in Austria-Hungary, today Pezinok in Slovakia, and came to Vienna to study mathematics. Early in his career he was a combinative player who liked the King's Gambit. After the First World War he became one of the leaders of hypermodernism, with successes including Gothenburg 1920, which he won. The opening 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4, the Réti Opening, bears his name.

Savielly Tartakower (1887–1956) was born in Rostov-on-Don, studied law in Geneva and Vienna, and became one of the strongest players of his time. He received the grandmaster title in 1950, the first year it was awarded, and was known for his witticisms. During the Second World War he took part in the French Resistance under the name “Lieutenant Cartier.”

The game move by move

Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.

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Richard Réti has the white pieces, Savielly Tartakower the black.

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Open on the analysis board

Watch the game on the living board

Play like Réti

Guess the moves Réti played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.

Play like RétiPlay like Tartakower

The moments that decided it

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After 8…Nxe4: Black is a piece up. Can you see what White has in mind?
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After 10.Bg5+: double check. According to the earliest publications, Tartakower resigned here.

The end

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The final position after 11.Bd8#. White gave mate on move 11.

In the earliest known publications, in Georg Marco's chess column in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt on April 1, 1910, and in the yearbook Schachjahrbuch für 1910 (published in 1911), the game ends with Tartakower resigning after 10.Bg5+. The mate 10…Kc7 11.Bd8# is how the game is usually given, by Tartakower himself among others.

Why the game is famous

The game is a classic example of the power of double check. When two pieces give check at once, no piece can block and nothing can capture both, so the king has to move. That is why Réti could sacrifice his queen: after 10.Bg5+ there were no good squares left.

It is also a warning about what happens when the king stays in the center while the lines open. Black won a knight but forgot his king, and that was enough for one of the best players of the day to lose in ten moves.

The whole game with notes, as text

1. e4 c6 The Caro-Kann, a solid defense. 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 Black attacks the knight on e4 and develops a piece. 5. Qd3 The queen comes out early, to d3. 5… e5 Black strikes in the center and offers a pawn. 6. dxe5 Qa5+ Check, and the queen also attacks the pawn on e5. 7. Bd2 Qxe5 Black has won the pawn back. 8. O-O-O White castles queenside and leaves the knight on e4 to its fate. 8… Nxe4 Black takes the knight and is a piece up. But here it comes. 9. Qd8+ The queen sacrifice. The king has no choice but to take. 9… Kxd8 10. Bg5+ Double check: the bishop on g5 and the rook on d1 give check at the same time. No piece can block, so the king has to move. According to the earliest publications, Tartakower resigned here. 10… Kc7 11. Bd8# Checkmate. The bishop gives check from d8 and is protected by the rook, which also covers the whole d-file. Tartakower later called it “a splendid mate” and wrote that “nothing could better illustrate the power of a double check.”

PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Casual game with a clock, for a stake of ten crowns"]
[Site "Vienna"]
[Date "1910.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Richard Réti"]
[Black "Savielly Tartakower"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B15"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qd3 e5 6. dxe5 Qa5+ 7. Bd2 Qxe5 8. O-O-O Nxe4 9. Qd8+ Kxd8 10. Bg5+ Kc7 11. Bd8# 1-0

Download .pgn

Sources

  • Chessgames.com, Réti–Tartakower 1910
  • PGN Mentor, Reti.pgn
  • Edward Winter: Réti v Tartakower

The moves compared in two databases (Chessgames, PGN Mentor): identical, 21 half-moves. The circumstances checked against Edward Winter's article, which also shows that the first publications in 1910 end with 10.Bg5+ and resignation. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.

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Updated November 6, 2026