The Quiet Bishop

Richard Reti's game against Efim Bogoljubov at New York 1924 is a set piece for the hypermodern method he championed: rather than plant pawns in the centre, White lets Black overextend with an early ...f5 and ...e5, then strikes the resulting holes. The game shared the tournament's first brilliancy prize and sits alongside Reti's shock win over the previously undefeated Capablanca in the same event as one of the two games that made New York 1924 a landmark for hypermodern chess.

The finish is admired for its restraint rather than its violence. Rather than force matters with a check or a capture, Reti plays the quiet 25.Be8, a bishop retreat that gives up nothing and threatens nothing directly, yet closes every escape square in the mating net: 25...Rxe8 runs into 26.Qxf8#, and 25...h6 loses just as quickly to 26.Qxf8+ followed by a bishop check on g6. Bogoljubov resigned rather than play on.

There is a small irony in the opening choice: the ECO code for Black's setup, A13, is named the Bogoljubow Defence after the same player who lost so badly with it here.