Réticence

Introduction

Many of you will know of the Réti Maneuver, the theme of one of the most famous endgame studies of all time. It was published in 1921, but Réti returned to the idea several times. In the year before his death, in the problem below, he found a beautiful rendering of it that is not so well known. Of course, it looks impossible: the Black bishop can stop White's pawn from promoting, while the White king cannot catch Black's pawn. And yet ... . (Bonus: see here for a rich memoir of Réti by his older brother. Réti's life, his brother concluded, unfolded "like a work of art. Brief and fundamentally tragic as it was, it still revealed an irresistible spontaneity and innate kindliness.")

The problem

Richard Réti, 1928

White to move and draw.

(Solution below.)

The solution