In 1921, Breyer set a new blindfold chess record by playing 25 games simultaneously. He also edited Szellemi Sport, a magazine devoted to chess puzzles, and composed at least one brilliant retrograde analysis study.
Heart disease cut short Breyer's promising chess career. He died in 1921 at the age of 28 in Bratislava. He was buried in Bratislava and after exhumation in 1987, was reburied in the Kerepesi Cemetery in Budapest.
Breyer was a leading pioneer of the hypermodern school of chess theory, which favoured controlling the centre with pressure from the flanks. He was a friend of Richard Réti and an inspiration to other players.[1]
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Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation after 9...Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7
He is most notably recognised for the Breyer Variation in the Ruy Lopez, which involves Black re-routing his queen's knight to d7 for increased flexibility (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.h3 Nb8 10.d4 Nbd7; see diagram).[2][3] This line became fashionable in the 1960s, and a favourite of ex-world champion Boris Spassky. He is also recognised for the Breyer Variation of the Vienna Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Nf3 Be7), as well as the Breyer Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Qf3), a variation of the King's Gambit.[4] He was an early adopter of the Slav Defense (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6) at a time when the Queen's Gambit Declined (2...e6) was Black's most common response to the Queen's Gambit, and is credited with the Breyer Variation of the Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nbd2).
^"[...] his enquiring mind, stimulated by new chess ideas of any kind, was a source of inspiration to some of his contemporaries, not least to his close friend Réti; and his annotations are refreshingly undogmatic." Hooper/Whyld (1987), p. 49
^"The Hungarian Julius Breyer had many ideas in advance of his time, and he recommended this strange looking retreat [9...Nb8] as early as 1911." Barden (1963), pp. 15–16
