A curious transposition from the London System to the Ruy Lopez Breyer variation.

Sounds impossible, doesn't it? A transposition from a Queen's Pawn opening into the Lopez?

For comparison, here's an abstract (ie: non-book) position from the Breyer. Note that the Black Bishop takes three moves to reach g7, and the Black Knight takes three moves to reach d7:

The best part of this odd transposition is that Black ends up in a Breyer Lopez about FOUR MOVES UP over the typical book lines. Four. Extra. Moves.

Too good to be true?

That's amazing! Of course, there are the subtle improvements for Black, like obviously the vulnerable DSB for White, and the lack of knight on g3. The Breyer has always been fascinating to me - it seems almost impossible for Black to be able to 'waste' this much time and still be fine, but it is possible! Fascinating stuff,

May I ask why you played 22...f6? I'm confused as to the purpose of that move.

Probably to overdefend e5 in case of Bh6

I wanted to arrange Bc6 to exchange off that well-posted White Bishop on a4. That move might result in my Queen being drawn away from the defense of the e5 Pawn (after Bc6 / Bxc6 / Qxc6). So I first over-protect e5 before continuing to prepare Bc6.

Or to look at it another way... if the e5 Pawn is protected just enough times, then NONE of its defenders can move without losing the Pawn. If it is over-protected instead, then ANY of its defenders is free to move.

The whole point of the Breyer is to play ...c5, not ...c6.

You should tell Mamedyarov that.

Also... in this line Black is FOUR moves ahead of a standard Breyer (because his DSB reached g7 in one move instead of three, and his QN reached d7 in one move instead of three). What's the problem with playing first c7-c6 and then later c6-c5 when you are already four moves ahead of your opponent?

I think he was talking about your demo line. Also, can you show us the Mamedyarov game please? It's always interesting seeing Shak's fun ways of playing openings.

Grischuk vs Mamedyarov 2017 :

Grischuk vs Mamedyarov (2017) Geneva Grand Prix 2017 (365chess.com)

Milos vs Mamedyarov 2010 :

Milos vs Mamedyarov (2010) 7th World Team Championship (365chess.com)

Almost all of them with the Black pieces. My winning percentage is slightly better with White, but the actual games tend to be pretty mundane. It's when I'm playing Black that the games really get interesting.

@7

"You should tell Mamedyarov that."
++ I stand corrected. Apparently this ...c6 line is called the Borisenko Variation.

"Also... in this line Black is FOUR moves ahead of a standard Breyer (because his DSB reached g7 in one move instead of three, and his QN reached d7 in one move instead of three)."
++ The rationale of Breyer's paradoxical ...Nb8 is that a tempo is less valuable in a closed position. In the King's Indian Defence black often plays ...Bg7, ...Bf8, ...Be7.
In the Ruy Lopez and in the Old Indian Defence black often plays ...Be7, ...Bf8, ...Bg7.

"What's the problem with playing first c7-c6 and then later c6-c5 when you are already four moves ahead of your opponent?" ++ I believed the key of the Breyer was to exert pressure on central pawn d4 with ...c5, so Nc6 has to get out of the way and at b8 it stands better than at a5. Maybe the point of this ...c6 system is to prevent white from closing the center with d5 and then mount a kingside attack with e.g. Nb1-d2-f1-e3/g3-f5

Nice games! Mamedyarov maneuvered magnificently making these masterpieces!

Really incredible, I almost couldn't believe the title. Did you notice this as you played e5, or at any point during the game? If so, were there any particular decisions made which were colored by your knowledge of the Breyer that you aren't confident would have been found/made otherwise?

I've never actually played the Breyer... it's either Sicilian Najdorf or Modern Defense for me... but I've studied Spassky's games so I have some familiarity with the positions.

I could see that this was turning into a Breyer when I played e5, yes.