The Breyer Variation was recommended by Gyula Breyer as early as 1911, but there are no known game records in which Breyer employed this line. The Breyer Variation did not become popular until the 1960s when it was adopted by Boris Spassky and others. In particular, Spassky's back to back wins over Mikhail Tal at Tbilisi in 1965 did much to enhance its reputation, and Spassky has a career-plus score with the Breyer. The variation was the choice of many top level players as White has had trouble proving an advantage against it. Nowadays however, this variation is considered too passive,and players prefer to play the Berlin or the Petroff as they seem to equalise more easily.