Nimzovich Defense, a Rare Bird

     In tournament play, neither the Alekhine Defense (1.e4 Nf6) nor the Nimzovich Defense (1.e4 Nc6) have ever been given much attention let alone adopted in actual play. But, the Hypermoderns had a radically different theory of the center than the players that preceded them. They favored controlling the center with pressure from the flanks. 

     One of those Hypermoderns was a player about whom we know almost nothing today...the Hungarian Gyula Breyer (April 30, 1893 - November 19, 921).

     As far as I know there is only one book on him. It's Jimmy Adams' Gyula Breyer: The Chess Revolutionary that was published in 2017. You can view the book HERE and you can read it with the free Kindle app.  

     In 1912 Breyer won the Hungarian championship and in 1920 he finished first in Berlin ahead of Bogoljubov, Tartakower, Reti, Maroczy and Tarrasch. Heart disease cut short his career and he died in 1921 at the age of 28. 

     In the following game Breyer defeats a Max Euwe against whom he had a plus score. My memory fails, but I think it was in 1959 that Dr. Euwe visited Cleveland, Ohio and I got his autograph which I still have. He wrote, "I wish you good luck with chess interest. Sincerely, Dr. M. Euwe".  If you want to know how to pronounce Max Euwe check it out HERE. 

     Many of Breyer's games exemplify a struggle between the old-fashioned view that a strong center consists in having Pawns on the fourth rank and the modern attitude, which considers that such a center is not so strong because the Pawns can often be attacked easily. Here's an example.

[Event "Vienna"] [Site "Vienna AUT"] [Date "1921.05.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Max Euwe"] [Black "Gyula Breyer"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "1921.??.??"] {Nimzovich Defense} 1. e4 {[%mdl 32]} Nc6 {Kasparov and Keene opined that the Nimzovich is sound and offers the maverick spirit a great deal of opening territory to explore.} 2. Nc3 Nf6 {A classic opening theory rule breaking move. } 3. d4 e5 {Alternatives are 3...d4 and 2...e6, but there is no amassed theory on this defense and only a handful of games.} 4. dxe5 Nxe5 5. f4 Nc6 6. e5 Ng8 7. Bc4 d6 {Challenging white's advanced center.} 8. Nf3 (8. Be3 Bf5 {Better was 8...Nxe5} 9. Qe2 dxe5 10. Rd1 Qh4+ 11. Bf2 {White stands well. Steiner,A (2247)-Savio,A (2043) Austria 2015}) 8... Bg4 {In the ancient (1946) book Strategy and Tactics by Chernev and Reinfeld, they apparently annotated the game based on the result and claimed that after this move white is in difficulties because he can't play 9.exd6 because black would get good development and the move 5.f4 has created a weakness in white's position. Pshaw! White is better in this position.} 9. O-O (9. exd6 Bxd6 10. Qe2+ Qe7 11. Be3 Nf6 12. O-O-O {is equal.}) 9... Qd7 (9... Nh6 10. Qe1 dxe5 11. Nxe5 Bc5+ 12. Be3 Bxe3+ 13. Qxe3 O-O {White is a bit better. Mrdja,M (2368)-Kalajzic,I (2240) Velika Gorica CRO 2012}) (9... dxe5 {would lose!} 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Nxe5+ Ke8 12. Qxg4 {and black won't last long.}) 10. Qe1 {Chernev and Reinfeld belittled this move claiming that Euwe was no longer sure of his position and so tries this "ingenious" attempt at introducing complications, but Breyer is quite at home in them. Nonsense! Euwe's move is evaluated at only about a quarter of a P worse than either 10.h3 or 10.Be3. There is nothing "ingenious" about 10.Qe1...it threatens exd6, but that's obvious. It is true though that Breyer is at home in complications. Engines prefer white here!} O-O-O 11. Ng5 ( 11. h3 {was also a good move.} Bxf3 12. e6 Qe7 13. Rxf3 Nf6 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. Bxd5 fxe6 16. Re3 e5 17. Bxc6 bxc6 18. Qa5 {White is slightly better.}) 11... dxe5 12. Kh1 {Tartakower called this position very wild and mentioned 12.Bb3 as a possibility.} (12. Bb3 Nd4 {Better was 12...Bc5+ and 13...Nf6} 13. Nxf7 { Better than Tartakower's 13.fxe5} Nxc2 14. Bxc2 Qxf7 15. fxe5 {White is better. }) 12... f6 13. Nf7 Na5 14. Nxd8 {This slip allows black to equalize.} (14. Bd5 c6 15. Bf3 Bxf3 16. Nxh8 Bg4 17. Qe4 Bf5 18. Qa4 Qd4 19. Qxa5 Bb4 20. Qa4 Bxc3 21. Qb3 Ba5 22. Nf7 {White is winning.}) 14... Nxc4 15. Qe4 Nd6 16. Qb4 { This is the move upon which Euwe relied thinking it allows the successfull rescue of the N by Nxb7. It does, but black now launches a dangerous attack.} Be7 (16... Kxd8 {favors white after} 17. fxe5 {The N can't move because of Qf8+ } a5 18. Qa3 b6 19. exd6 Bxd6 20. Qb3) 17. fxe5 fxe5 18. Nxb7 Nxb7 {[%mdl 128]} 19. Rf8+ {Ingenious, but quite faulty.} (19. Qc4 Nf6 20. Qa6 Re8 {Black has a solid position.}) 19... Bxf8 20. Qxf8+ Qd8 21. Qxg7 Nf6 {[%mdl 32]} 22. Bg5 Rg8 {White's "attack" after his 19th move has fizzled out and he is elft with a lost position.} 23. Qh6 (23. Qxf6 Rxg5 24. Qxd8+ Kxd8 {leaves white hopelessly lost.}) 23... Rg6 24. Qh4 Nd6 {[%mdl 32] This prevents 25.Ne4} 25. Rf1 Nf5 26. Qxg4 Nxg4 27. Bxd8 {As lost as white's position is, the game is NOT over. The N on f6 is attacked and one wrong move could throw away the win.} Nge3 { This is the only winning move!} (27... Nfe3 28. Rf8 Nxc2 29. Bh4+ Kb7 30. Rf7 { and not only is white back in the game, he's actually a bit better.}) (27... Ngh6 28. g4 Ne3 29. Rf8 Nhxg4 30. Bg5+ Kb7 31. Ne4 {with equal chances.}) 28. Rf3 Kxd8 29. h3 {Hoping for a gross blunder perhaps.} Rg3 (29... Rxg2 30. Rxf5 Rxc2 31. Rxe5 {with a draw.}) 30. Rxg3 Nxg3+ {Euwe resigned.} 0-1