The Reti According to Abasov – Part 2
Most openings ask White to commit the d-pawn early and then defend the theory that follows. The Reti is built on the opposite instinct. After 1.Nf3 and 2.c4, White leaves the center fluid, holds d4 in reserve, and lets Black declare his plan first. In The Reti According to Abasov – Part 2, GM Nijat Abasov builds a repertoire around 1...Nf6 — the move Black uses to keep his options open, ready to steer toward a King's Indian, a Grünfeld, a Queen's Indian, or a symmetrical English. Abasov's reply is to keep his own hand hidden just as long, and to answer each of those tries on his own terms.
Where Part 1 handled 1...d5, Part 2 answers 1...Nf6, and Abasov makes a deliberate choice here: not one universal system, but a reply shaped to each of Black's setups. In his own words, he wanted "a different approach to be more flexible." Against the Queen's Indian setup he declines the routine d4 structures for something sharper; against the symmetrical English he sidesteps the forcing 3.d4 and 3.Nc3, playing 3.g3 to press with his extra tempo; against the Grünfeld he keeps an Anti-Grünfeld type-of-position with d4 still unplayed. The effect is to keep Black in positions he meets far less often than the heavily analyzed main lines.
The one system Abasov meets with a full classical center is the King's Indian. After 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 O-O 6.Be2 e5, he closes the position with 7.d5, choosing the Classical King's Indian with 7.d5 where he judges White has very good practical chances. That contrast runs through the course: against the Queen's Indian, the symmetrical English, and the Grünfeld setups, he keeps d4 in reserve and steers into flexible Reti and English waters — and against the King's Indian, the one battleground where it belongs, he commits to the classical center and plays for the advantage.
Variation map
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 — the starting position
- 2...d6 — Old Indian setups → Chapter 1
- 2...b6 3.g3 Bb7 4.Bg2 e6 — Queen's Indian setup
- 4...g6 and rare fourth moves → Chapter 2
- 4...c5 5.Nc3 g6 → Chapter 3
- 5.O-O c5 — Hedgehog → Chapter 4
- 5.O-O Be7 — main continuation → Chapter 5
- 2...c5 3.g3 — symmetrical English
- 3...Nc6 4.Bg2 d6 and rare choices → Chapter 6
- 3...d5 → Chapter 7
- 3...g6 → Chapter 8
- 2...g6 3.Nc3
- 3...d5 — Anti-Grünfeld → Chapter 9
- 3...Bg7 4.e4 e5 → Chapter 10
- 3...Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 O-O 6.Be2 Na6 and rare moves 4–6 → Chapter 11
- 3...Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.d5 — Classical King's Indian → Chapter 12
Course features
- 12 chapters
- 20 test positions
- Memory Booster
- To Go version of every chapter
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN (English, German, French, Spanish)
This volume continues the picture begun in The Reti According to Abasov – Part 1, which covers the 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 lines. Between them, the two parts answer Black's two principal replies to the Reti — 1...d5 in Part 1, 1...Nf6 here — with the same guiding idea: keep the center flexible, and choose the structure that suits you rather than the one Black has prepared.
If you want a repertoire that steers Black out of his deepest theory and lets you decide the character of each game — while still going straight down the main road in the one line where that pays off — Part 2 hands you the tools against every 1...Nf6 system.