Understanding the Breyer

In the first round of the US Chess Championships Wesley So was paired against Gata Kamsky. We saw the main line of the closed Ruy Lopez which has been played in so many classical games as well as battles of top grandmasters. But the experienced Kamsky was just blown off the board in just 28 moves. What exactly happened? Let's have a look:

An important win for Wesley, who would be itching to make a comeback after his not so successful
US Championships last year [picture from official website]

The look on his face says it all. Kamsky cannot believe that he has lost so quickly in his favourite opening.

Understanding the Breyer

After the initial moves we reach the following position: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8!?

For the uninitiated this might seem like a totally crazy move. But Gyula Breyer, the man who invented it, was a hypermodernist and had some very original ideas in the opening! According to Mega Database 2016 this undeveloping move has been played in 2300 games to date! Breyer's main idea was to place the knight on d7 where it would not interfere with the work of the bishop on b7. It would give harmony to Black's position.

Kamsky was beaten convincingly in just 28 moves. The logical question that comes to the mind is: where exactly did he go wrong? And I didn't have to go too far away. ChessBase has an entire DVD of five hours 13 minutes by Pavel Eljanov on the Breyer Variation of the Ruy Lopez.

It always helps when you have the world number 12 explaining to you all the intricacies of this complex opening

 

The good thing about the Breyer DVD by Eljanov is that in many places he suggests alternatives. The above variation, starting with 17...Nb6!?, is a solid line for Black. Pavel also suggests a riskier variation, transposing the play into a Benoni like structure with 16...exd4!?.

It could be safe to say that Kamsky would have fared better if he had studied this Breyer DVD of Eljanov:

The five hour Eljanov DVD can be good enough for any player to learn the Breyer. However, if you would like supplementary material to it, I would highly recommend "Playing e4-e5 A Classical Repertoire" written by Nikolaos Ntirlis and published by Quality Chess. Here is one nice point by the author which might be obvious for Breyer experts, but for newbies like me it is quite invaluable.

This position comes from the 15.a4 line. Black's last move was 15...c5! Here is what Ntirlis has to say, "This is the best reaction to White's last move. Timing is everything: if Black were to play this move with the pawn still on a2, he would be left with a serious spatial disadvantage after d4-d5, as the c6 break would no longer be available. The difference here is that Black can play ...c4 to secure the c5-square for his knight. This plan would not work properly with the pawn on a2, as White could simply play b2-b4 at a convenient moment, meeting ...cxb3 with axb3 and then playing b3-b4 again to rob the black knight of its outpost."

The thing which attracts me to the Breyer are the rich ideas and variations that you can learn. It is not just about computer analysis and memorizing moves but improving your understanding about the game of chess. Hence, even if you don't intend to play this system as Black, it would still help your chess if you studied the Breyer. In this regard the DVD by Eljanov and the book by Ntirlis can be your perfect guides into the complex world of 9...Nb8!

A huge thanks to the Breyer expert IM Nisha Mohota for helping me to compile this article.