Handbuch des Schachspiels
Encyclopedia
Handbuch des Schachspiels (Handbook of Chess, often simply called the Handbuch) is a chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 book, first published in 1843 by Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa
Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa
Tassilo, Baron von Heydebrand und der Lasa was an important German chess master, chess historian and theoretician of the nineteenth century, a member of the Berlin Chess Club and a founder of the Berlin Chess School .His...

. It was one of the most important opening references for many decades. The Handbuch had been the project of Paul Rudolf von Bilguer
Paul Rudolf von Bilguer
Paul Rudolf von Bilguer was a German chess master and chess theoretician from Ludwigslust, Mecklenburg-Schwerin....

, who was with von der Lasa a member of the Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 Chess Club and the influential group of chess master
Chess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....

s later called the Berlin Pleiades
Berlin Pleiades
The Berlin Pleiades – a group of seven stars of German chess - Die Berliner Schule or Das Berliner Siebengestirn - in the 19th century.The members of the Berlin Pleiades were:...

. Bilguer died in 1840, with the work still in the early stages. Von der Lasa completed the project and saw it published, with his friend von Bilguer alone named as author. It contained comprehensive analyses of all opening variations
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...

 then known, plus a section on the history and literature of chess.

Von der Lasa prepared four further editions (1852, 1858, 1864, and 1874). The sixth edition (1880) was by Constantin Schwede; and the seventh edition (1891) was by Emil Schallopp
Emil Schallopp
Emil Schallopp was a German chess player and author. He became head of the shorthand department of the Reichstag. He wrote many books, including one on the Steinitz–Zukertort 1886 World Championship match...

, with the assistance of Louis Paulsen
Louis Paulsen
Louis Paulsen was a German chess player.In 1860s and 1870s, he was among the top five players in the world. He was a younger brother of Wilfried Paulsen....

. Carl Schlechter
Carl Schlechter
Carl Schlechter was a leading Austrian chess master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker.-Early life:...

, who had drawn a match for the World Championship with Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years...

 in 1910, prepared the eighth and final edition. Published in eleven parts between 1912 and 1916, it totaled 1,040 pages and included contributions by Rudolf Spielmann
Rudolf Spielmann
Rudolf Spielmann was an Austrian-Jewish chess player of the romantic school, and chess writer.-Career:He was a lawyer but never worked as one....

, Siegbert Tarrasch
Siegbert Tarrasch
Siegbert Tarrasch was one of the strongest chess players and most influential chess teachers of the late 19th century and early 20th century....

, and Richard Teichmann
Richard Teichmann
Richard Teichmann was a German chess master.He was known as "Richard the Fifth" because he often finished in fifth place in tournaments. But in Karlsbad 1911, he scored a convincing win, crushing Akiba Rubinstein and Carl Schlechter with the same line of the Ruy Lopez...

. International Master William Hartston
William Hartston
William Roland Hartston is an English chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 with a highest Elo rating of 2515...

called it "a superb work, perhaps the last to encase successfully the whole of chess knowledge within a single volume."
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