Réti-Spielmann Attack

The Réti-Spielmann Attack answers the French Defense with 2. g3, declining the usual 2. d4 in favor of a kingside fianchetto. The bishop headed for g2 bears on the long diagonal and adds support to e4, so that if Black plays ...d5, White can keep the tension instead of resolving it immediately by exchange or advance. White's central setup stays undecided, and the play often resembles the slower, closed systems such as the King's Indian Attack rather than the classical French structures with a pawn on d4.

Black has several reasonable answers. By far the most common is 2...d5, staking a claim in the center at once and asking White how the e4-pawn will be handled. Less frequent are 2...c5, which takes on a Sicilian-like shape, and 2...b6, which sets up a queenside fianchetto to contest the long light-squared diagonal. The engine considers the position level, and on Lichess the results are almost evenly divided between the two sides. The line sees occasional use as a way to sidestep mainstream French theory but is far from a main line.