Chess Openings

All chess games begin with an opening—of some type!

Early on, chess players learn openings—established ways to begin a game which give prospects for success as play moves from the middlegame to the endgame. Players often gravitate to an assortment of favorite openings or those which they have studied, taking into account the variations that occur as the opening moves along.

The first major work on chess openings was the project begun by a Prussian Army officer, Paul Rudolf von Bilguer (1815-1840).

The Handbuch des Schachspiels (Handbook of Chess) has been described as “possibly the most influential chess-book for a period of 90 years” [David Hooper and David Whyld, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 166]. It has also been said that "for players in the late nineteenth and the first two decades of the twentieth century, it was the Bible of Chess. Its light began to fade only after the great hypermodern breakthrough" [Harry Golombek, Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess (New York: Crown Publishers, 1977), 135]. The book went through eight editions (1843-1921) with different editors and later several additions. 332 pages of the first edition (1843) were devoted to known openings analysis.

This book set a typographical layout and format standard for comparisons of Openings  which "have not been surpassed" [Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess, 166]:

This major book became the precursor to a host of other books on chess openings, notably, Modern Chess Openings (from 1911) and the multi-volume Encyclopedia of Chess Openings.

This Crossword presents chess openings with their various titles and associations.

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