Gyula Breyer was the winner of the strong international tournament held in Berlin in 1920, and set a new world record for blindfold simultaneous exhibitions. Below, I explore his life and games.
Photo: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Table of contents:
Biography
Early life
Gyula Breyer was born in 1893 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. He became active in Budapest chess circles when he was young, and proved himself to be a promising young player when he shared 4th place at a Budapest Club tournament in 1911. That same year, he travelled to Cologne, Germany, to take part in an international tournament, where he finished 6th, behind the famous Polish player Georg Rotlewi.
International breakthrough
Breyer’s breakthrough year came in 1912, when he travelled to Temesvar (today Timisoara) to compete in the Hungarian Championship. Hungary had a strong chess culture at the time, and boasted an impressively strong field at its Championship. At Temesvar, Breyer proved that he had developed greatly as a player over the last year, as he took clear 1st place, ahead of the future star Richard Réti. Also in 1912, Breyer shared 1st place at a tournament in Budapest with Barasz. It became clear that he would need to search for more challenging tests in the world arena.
Therefore, after achieving another 1st place at a Budapest Club tournament in 1913 with an impressive 8/9 score, Breyer travelled to Mannheim, where he competed at the 19th German Chess Congress in 1914. This was the strongest event he had played in in his career up to this point, as many of the world’s leading players took part. Breyer was sharing 4th place with Marshall and Réti, behind only Alekhine, Vidmar and Spielmann, when the event was interrupted by the outbreak of WWI. The start of the war made it impossible to continue the tournament, and Breyer travelled back to Hungary.
WWI
International chess tournaments became very rare during the war, but Breyer found the time to compete regularly at local tournaments held in Budapest. Although this was not a sufficient substitute for regular chances to compete with the world’s strongest players, it was a useful way for Breyer to develop his chess in difficult times. He won outright or shared 1st place in at least five Budapest tournaments in the period 1914-1917, and this regular practice helped him to prepare for his return to international chess once the war came to an end.
After the war
In 1918, towards the end of the war, Breyer travelled to the city of Kosice. There he competed at the Charousek Memorial tournament. The event attracted a strong international field, which included Réti, Vidmar, Schlechter, Grünfeld and Mieses. In the 12-player field, Breyer achieved an impressive 7,5/11 score, sharing 3rd place with Schlechter, behind only Réti and Vidmar.
Breyer and Réti, two of the leading Hungarian players at the time, met for an official match in Bratislava in 1920. The match did not end well for Breyer, as Réti won with the one-sided score 4,5-0,5. Réti had proven himself to be Hungary’s greatest hope at the chessboard.
Life at the top
Despite this disappointment, Breyer soon bounced back, achieving the greatest success of his career later that year. In December of 1920, Breyer took part in a strong international tournament in Berlin, where he competed in a field which included many of the world’s leading players. There he scored an excellent 6,5/9, earning him clear 1st place. He finished a full point ahead of Bogoljubow and Tartakower, and even further ahead of famous names such as Réti, Maroczy, Mieses, Tarrasch, Sämisch, Leonhardt and Spielmann. Breyer had proven himself fully capable of competing in tournaments at the highest level.
In 1921, Breyer travelled back to Kosice, not for a tournament, but to give a blindfold simultaneous exhibition. There he once again impressed the chess world by playing 25 blindfold games simultaneously, which at the time was a new world record. This record stood for four years, before Alekhine played 26 at once at New York in 1925.
Also in 1921, Breyer achieved an impressive 3rd place at a strong international tournament in Vienna, scoring 7/11. There he finished behind only Sämisch and Euwe, and ahead of Grünfeld and Tartakower, amongst others.
A future cut short
Breyer was now in his prime and at the peak of his career, and seemed to have a long and promising future in chess ahead of him. However, tragically, he passed away later in 1921, probably due to heart disease. At the age of only 28, the chess world was deprived of one of its most promising stars.
Legacy
Today Breyer is mainly remembered for his role (along with Nimzowitch and Réti) in popularising the new, so-called “hypermodern” ideas in chess, through his games and writing. These ideas proved to be long-lasting, and gradually came to be accepted by the chess world during the 1920s. He thus played a major role in advancing the chess world’s understanding of the game at the time. His name is also attached to an important variation in the Ruy Lopez, which is still popular and relevant today, over a hundred years later.
Game Analysis
Breyer won an instructive game against Szekely at Debrecen 1913, where he found a beautiful queen sacrifice.
Lessons from this game:
- Every exchange must serve a useful purpose and improve the position in a specific way. If not, it is better to maintain the tension.
- It can be worth giving up the bishop pair to expose the enemy king.
- Every advance of the pawns in front of the castled king can create weaknesses that the opponent may be able to exploit. In this game, 13.h3? is a good example.
Puzzles
Steiner – Breyer, Temesvar 1912
Mieses – Breyer, Mannheim 1914
Breyer – Spielmann, Gothenburg 1920
Krejcik – Breyer, Vienna 1921
Solutions
Further Reading
To find more about Breyer’s life and games, the following are useful sources:
Breyer’s chessgames.com page,
his chess.com page,
this chess.com article by simaginfan,
this chess.com article by simaginfan,
this chesshistory.com article by Edward Winter,
and this collection of Breyer’s tournament and match results.
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