According to Chessmetrics, during his brief career (from 1912 to 1921) his highest rating is estimated to have been 2630 in 1917, placing him at #9 in the world.
In 1921, Breyer set a new blindfold record playing 25 games simultaneously. He also edited Szellemi Sport, a magazine devoted to chess puzzles, and he composed at least one brilliant retrograde analysis study.
He died of heart disease in 1921 at the age of 28 in Bratislava which today is the capital of Slovakia/ According to Wikipedia his body was exhumation in 1987, and he was reburied in Budapest. I was unable to discover the reason.
Breyer was a leading pioneer of the Hypermodern School which favored controlling the center using the fianchetto which was in direct opposition to the old 'dogmas espoused by players like Tarrasch.
The following game was a win over Emanuel Lasker in a simul, but it’s an enjoyable one. Breyer equalized easily against Lasker’s archaic opening, played a solid middlegame and when Lasker, possibly thinking he was winning a piece, miscalculated and Breyer jumped all over him.
Emanuel Lasker–Gyula Breyer0–1C2130 bd Simultaneous, Budapest26.01.1911Stockfish 17
C44: Ponziani Opening 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 This relic dates back to 1497. White prepares to build a strong center with d4, but black equalizes easily. In 1904, Frank Marshall wrote, "There is no point in white's third move unless black plays badly...white practically surrenders the privilege of the first move." d5 Breyer selects an aggressive response, striking back in the center. 4.exd5 The capture 4.Qxd4 allows black easy equality. xd5 Normally black would not want to make this capture because Nc3 gains a tempo, but here that is not possible. 5.cxd4 f6 6.f3 6.c3 is met by b4 7.f3 a5 Again, black has equalized with no difficulty. 6...b4+ 7.c3 0-0 8.e2 e4 8...c5 9.0-0 xc3 10.bxc3 cxd4 11.xd4 f5 White is better. Toledano Llinares,J (2340)-Campora,D (2530) Burguillos 2007 9.d2 xc3 10.bxc3 c6 There is nothing wrong with this, but black usually plays 10...Nxd2 11.0-0 a5 12.c2 f5 13.d3 fe8 More precise was 13...Nxd2 14.e1 Lasker preserves his B for no good reason. Putting pressure on black's b-Pawn with 14.Rab1 was a more active option. d5 15.c4 Playing 15.Rb1 was still a good alternative. d6 16.d5 e5 Excellent! So far the position is dead equal and would remain so if white captures 17.Nxe5. Instead, Lasker makes a fatal error. It is possible that 16...Ne5 caught Lasker by surprise and he thought it lost a piece. 17.xe4 This deserves two question marks! xf3+ This is pretty obvious, but Lasker was moving quickly. Still, it;s surprising that he missed it. 17...xe4 This may have been what Lasker was expecting,,, 18.xe4 g6 19.c2 and white is a piece ahead. 18.gxf3 g6+ 19.h1 xe4 20.c3 This is an instructuve position because it illustrates the point that won games do not win themselves. Black has only one winning move. h4 This, and only this, is the winner. 20...e2 This routine move runs into 21.g1 h6 22.d4 ae8 23.c3 g6 with only an equal position. 21.g1 Black finishes up neatly. xh2+ Again, this move which leads to a forced mate, is the only way that guarantees the win. 22.xh2 h5+ 23.g3 g5+ 24.h2 h4+ 25.g2 h3# A nice finish. 0–1
If you want to expand your knowledge about Breyer, the 876 page book "Gyula Breyer the chess revolutionary" by Jimmy Adams would be a good starting point :)
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