In 1853, Falkbeer was allowed to return to Vienna. Two years later, in January 1855, he started the first Austrian chess magazine, Wiener Schachzeitung, which lasted only a few months.
He went to London where he played two matches against Henry Bird. Falkbeer lost the 1856 match (+1 −2), but won the 1856/7 match (+5 −4 =4). At the Birmingham 1858 knockout tournament he beat Saint-Amant in round two, but lost in the round four final to Johann Lowenthal to finish second.
Falkbeer edited a chess column for The Sunday Times from April 1857 to November 1859. He resided in England for about 34 years before returning to Vienna in 1864, later writing a chess column in Neue Illustrierte Zeitung from 1877 to 1885.
He died in Vienna on December 14, 1885.
Falkbeer is more famous for his contributions to chess theory than for his play. He introduced the Falkbeer Countergambit in the King's Gambit Declined. Siegbert Tarrasch believed that it refuted the King's Gambit.
Falkbeer played very rapidly and had an original daring and imaginative. He could play sound chess when he liked, but he delighted in fireworks and liked the admiration of spectators.
Here’s a Falkbeer game featuring a nice finish with a Queen sacrifice. It was played in the London 1855 knockout tournament.
A game that I liked (Fritz 17)
[Event "London"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "1855.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ernst Falkbeer"]
[Black "Robert Brien"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "1855.??.??"]
{C01: French: Exchange Variation} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 {With this
exchange the position becomes simpler. If white wants to create winning
chances he will often play c2–c4 at some stage. Black can give white an
isolated d-Pawn, but in doing so he gives white attacking chances and in
exchange black gets the better endgame prospects.} exd5 4. Be3 Bd6 5. c4 dxc4
6. Bxc4 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. h3 c6 9. Nf3 Nbd7 10. O-O Nb6 11. Bb3 Nfd5 12. Ne4 f5
{Black will soon regret having played this weakening move. Instead 12...Re8
keeps things even.} 13. Nxd6 Qxd6 14. Re1 Bd7 15. Ne5 f4 16. Bd2 Kh8 {The
advance of the f-Pawn has not lead to anything and black is already finding it
difficult to come up with a reasonable plan.} 17. Qh5 {Hoping for Nf7+.} Be8
18. Qf3 Qd8 19. Re4 Qh4 20. g4 g5 21. Kg2 Kg7 22. Rae1 {Instead of black, it's
white who is attacking on the K-side and with this move he has set a nifty
trap.} Nf6 {Instead of this black should have played 22...a5 although even
then he still has a miverable position. The text is suppoded to drives back
the R.} 23. Bb4 {But it doesn't drive it back; instead activates white;s B.}
Rh8 (23... Nxe4 24. Bxf8+ Kxf8 25. Qxe4 {leaves black quite lost.} Qh6 26. Nd7+
Kg7 27. Qe5+ {mate next move.}) (23... Nbd5 24. Bxd5 cxd5 25. Bxf8+ Kxf8 26.
Qa3+ Kg8 27. Nf3 {and white is winning.}) 24. Nd3 Nxe4 {There was nothing
better.} 25. Qxe4 Bg6 26. Qe7+ Kh6 27. Nxf4 {[%mdl 512]} Rae8 {White now has a
pretty finish.} 28. Nxg6 hxg6 (28... Rxe7 $18 29. Nxh8 Kg7 (29... Rxe1 30. Bf8#
) 30. Rxe7+ Kxh8 31. Re8+ Kg7 32. Bf8+ Kg6 (32... Kf6 33. Be7+ Kg6 34. Rg8+ Kh6
35. Bf8#) 33. Be7 Qh6 34. Rg8+ Qg7 35. Rxg7+ Kxg7 {and white wins.}) 29. Qxe8 {
This wins in a grandiose fashion, but there was a forced mate.} (29. Qf7 Nd5
30. Bxd5 Reg8 31. Re6 c5 32. Be4 Qh5 33. gxh5 Kxh5 34. Bxg6+ Rxg6 35. Qxg6+ Kh4
36. Re4+ g4 37. Qxg4#) 29... Rxe8 30. Rxe8 Kh7 31. Bd6 {Black resigned.
Stockfish is indicating a mate in 29 moves.} (31. Bd6 Qh6 (31... Nd5 32. Bxd5
cxd5 33. Be5 {mates with Rh8}) 32. Be5 Qg7 33. Bxg7 {etc.}) 1-0
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