''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' is a

reference book A reference work is a document, such as a Academic publishing#Scholarly paper, paper, book or periodical literature, periodical (or their electronic publishing, electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information ...

on the game of

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 ...

written by David Vincent Hooper and Kenneth Whyld. The book is written in an encyclopedia format. The book belongs to the

Oxford Companions ''Oxford Companions'' is a book series published by Oxford University Press, providing general knowledge within a specific area. The first book published in the series was ''The Oxford Companion to English Literature ''The Oxford Companion to ...

series.

Details

The first edition of the book was published in 1984 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. The second edition (1992) has over 2,500 entries, including

rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule pertaining to the structure or behavior internal to a business * School rule, a rule tha ...

, terms, strategies,

tactics Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics In chess, a tac ...

, over 500 brief biographies of famous players, and entries on more than 700 named openings and opening variations. In the back of the book is a comprehensive index of opening variations and sub-variations, listing 1,327 named variations. The book also discusses variants from other countries (such as

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as chess, Western chess, chaturanga, xiangqi, Indian chess, and janggi. ...

xiangqi Xiangqi (; ), commonly known as Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. Xiangqi is in the same family of games as shogi, janggi, chess, Western ches ...

chess variant A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways. "International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be co ...

s (such as three dimensional chess), and some forms of fairy chess.

Editions

* First published in 1984 by

* Reissued in paperback (with corrections) in 1987 by Oxford University Press * Second edition published in 1992 by Oxford University Press, * Paperback version of the second edition in 1996

References

1984 non-fiction books 1992 non-fiction books 1984 in chess 1992 in chess Chess books Oxford University Press reference books {{chess-book-stub