Ludwig Bledow - Tassilo von der Lasa 1839 Berlin

Ludwig Erdman Bledow became the strongest player in Berlin around 1840. He organised the developing chess scene there and gathered around him a group of very talented players including Baron Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa, Paul Rudolf von Bilguer, Wilhelm Hanstein and Bernhard Horwitz. This group became known as the Berlin Pleiades and was very influential on German chess subsequently. He founded Schachzeitung (later Deutsche Schachzeitung), and his large library aided Lasa in writing the famous Handbuch des Schachspiels (together with Bilguer).

Baron Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa was a diplomat, author, historian and player. He was one of the 'Berlin Pleiades' and although he apparently never played in a formal match or tournament he defeated in a series of offhand games Howard Staunton (in 1853), Adolf Anderssen (in 1845 and 1846) and Johann Jacob Loewenthal (in 1846). He brought out the first 'Handbuch', the first complete overview of openings in any language, in 1843 and supervised the subsequent editions of 1852, 1858, 1864 and 1874. During his time as a diplomat he collected a chess library of over 2000 items which was reported to still be largely intact in Poland in 1957. Indeed, a vast majority of this collection is in the possession of the John G. White Library of Cleveland, Ohio. Of particular note are multiple studies co-authored between White and T. und der Lasa, for example their study into Giulio Cesare Polerio.