Reti's Opening - Part 2

After 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4, Black has three basic ideas to follow in the Reti proper - that is if the game is not to transpose into and English, Catalan, or Indian system.

Seizing territory by 2. ... d4 we will deal with later; White can enter a reverse-Benoni type position or play for a "super-fianchetto" of the Queen-side with 3. b4.

Black can strong-point the Queen's pawn, either by 2. ... c6 allowing the Queen's Bishop to develop outside the pawn chain when the Reti takes on it's true character, or by 2. ... e6 when the QGD and Catalan ideas come more into play.

Lastly, the pawn can simply be captured. 2. c4 is a psuedo-gambit the same as after 1. d4 d5 2. c4, and the Reti borrows the same ideas from the QGA to ensure the gambited pawn can be recaptured, in three different ways.

The simple fork 3. Qa4+ looks Catalan-like, while the more exotic 3. Na3 aims to post the Knight strongly at c4. Both of these methods retain the possibility of developing the King's Bishop either along the f1-a6 diagonal or at g2.

The third method of regaining the pawn compounds the motifs of pinning the a7 pawn to the Rook at a8 with a Zwischenzug: 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 b5 4. a4 c6 5. axb5 cxb5 6. b3

Black takes the gambit pawn
White regains it by 3. e3

Now after 6. ... cxb3 7. Bxb5+ followed by 8. Qxb3.