''Handbuch des Schachspiels'' (''Handbook of Chess'', often simply called the ''Handbuch'') is a
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
book, first published in 1843 by
Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa. It was a comprehensive reference book on the game, and one of the most important references on
opening theory for many decades. The ''Handbuch'' had been the project of
Paul Rudolf von Bilguer, who was with von der Lasa a member of the
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
Chess Club and the influential group of
chess master
A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...
s later called the
Berlin Pleiades. 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 then known, plus a section on the history and literature of chess.
Editions
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, with the assistance of
Louis Paulsen.
Carl Schlechter, who had drawn a match for the World Championship with
Emanuel Lasker 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,
Siegbert Tarrasch, and
Richard Teichmann.
International Master William Hartston called it "a superb work, perhaps the last to encase successfully the whole of chess knowledge within a single volume".
References
Works cited
*
Digitized copy of the ''Handbuch'', 1st (1843) ed, Bavarian State Library
{{Authority control
1843 non-fiction books
Chess books
*Handbuch des Schachspiels
Chess in Germany
1843 in chess