Chapter 5, Part II — Modern Ideas in Chess: Breyer

This is the second part of the fifth chapter of Richard Réti's Modern Ideas in Chess (1922): the four sections on Julius Breyer, his analysis of a world championship game and three of his own games, in the order the book gives them, narrated in Réti's own words. Breyer edited a journal of puzzles for the mind, and Tartakower named him among the cubists of chess. Réti calls him a new Steinitz, a pioneer whose investigations broke old principles, and shows why the combinations he found were hidden from players who thought in the old way. What you'll take away: • Breyer the man: Czellini Sport, the problem that was really a draw, and "after 1.e4, White's game is in the last throes" (§34). • Lasker–Capablanca: the winning combination both masters and the analysts missed, because its first move loses time and develops Black's game (§34). • Breyer–Esser: Pawn to F4 instead of the routine Knight to F3, the Bishop to b1 that keeps Black's Bishop shut in, and the sacrifice that breaks open the King's side (§35). • Breyer–Havasi: Bishops kept behind the pawn chain until the break-through, when the pieces that seemed shut in suddenly come alive (§36). • Breyer–Réti: a plan on the Queen's wing, and the pawn sacrifice that turns the game around (§37). Chapters 0:00 §34 Breyer — the puzzle journal, and a new Steinitz 4:16 §34 Lasker–Capablanca — the combination nobody saw 5:13 §34 Breyer's analysis 6:31 §35 Breyer–Esser — Pawn to f4, the Bishop to b1, and the attack 10:04 §35 What if Bishop to b4 on move fourteen 10:58 §36 Breyer–Havasi — the Bishops behind the pawn chain 14:13 §37 Breyer–Réti — the Queen's wing plan and a pawn sacrifice A note on the board: in Breyer–Esser the book prints 14 P×P without saying which pawn takes; the board takes with the h-pawn, the reading the game's later moves support. Modern Ideas in Chess is in the public domain. Book adapted from the 1923 English edition. Captions available.