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)
Ernst Falkbeer–Robert Brien1–0C01LondonLondon1855Stockfish 16
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.e3 d6 5.c4 dxc4 6.xc4 f6 7.c3 0-0 8.h3 c6 9.f3 bd7 10.0-0 b6 11.b3 fd5 12.e4 f5 Black will soon regret having played this weakening move. Instead 12...Re8
keeps things even. 13.xd6 xd6 14.e1 d7 15.e5 f4 16.d2 h8 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.h5 Hoping for Nf7+. e8 18.f3 d8 19.e4 h4 20.g4 g5 21.g2 g7 22.ae1 Instead of black, it's
white who is attacking on the K-side and with this move he has set a nifty
trap. f6 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.b4 But it doesn't drive it back; instead activates white;s B. h8 23...xe4 24.xf8+ xf8 25.xe4 leaves black quite lost. h6 26.d7+ g7 27.e5+ mate next move. 23...bd5 24.xd5 cxd5 25.xf8+ xf8 26.a3+ g8 27.f3 and white is winning. 24.d3 xe4 There was nothing
better. 25.xe4 g6 26.e7+ h6 27.xf4 ae8 White now has a
pretty finish. 28.xg6 hxg6 28...xe7+- 29.xh8 g7 29...xe1 30.f8# 30.xe7+ xh8 31.e8+ g7 32.f8+ g6 32...f6 33.e7+ g6 34.g8+ h6 35.f8# 33.e7 h6 34.g8+ g7 35.xg7+ xg7 and white wins. 29.xe8
This wins in a grandiose fashion, but there was a forced mate. 29.f7 d5 30.xd5 eg8 31.e6 c5 32.e4 h5 33.gxh5 xh5 34.xg6+ xg6 35.xg6+ h4 36.e4+ g4 37.xg4# 29...xe8 30.xe8 h7 31.d6 Black resigned.
Stockfish is indicating a mate in 29 moves. 31.d6 h6 31...d5 32.xd5 cxd5 33.e5 mates with Rh8 32.e5 g7 33.xg7 etc. 1–0
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