The Oxford Companion to Chess is a reference book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

 on 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...

 written by David Hooper

David Vincent Hooper

David Vincent Hooper , born in Reigate, was a British chess player and writer. As an amateur, he tied for fifth place in the 1949 British Championship at Felixstowe. He was the British correspondence chess champion in 1944 and the London Chess Champion in 1948...

 and Kenneth Whyld. The book is written in an encyclopedia format. The book belongs to the Oxford Companions

Oxford Companions

Oxford Companions is a book series published by Oxford University Press. This series provides general knowledge of a specific area, and has included :* The New Oxford Companion to Law* The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French...

 series.

Details

The first edition of the book was published in 1984 by Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

. The second edition (1992) has over 2500 entries, including rules

Rules of chess

The rules of chess are rules governing the play of the game of chess. While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during the Middle Ages. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form. The...

, terms, strategies, tactics, over 500 brief biographies of famous players, and entries on more than 700 named openings

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...

 and opening variations. In the back of the book is a comprehensive index of opening variations and sub-variations, listing 1327 named variations.

The book also discusses chess from other countries (such as Shogi

Shogi

, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...

), chess variant

Chess variant

A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:...

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

Fairy chess

Fairy chess comprises chess problems that differ from classical chess problems in that they are not direct mates. The term was introduced before the First World War. While selfmate dates from the Middle Age, helpmate was invented by Max Lange in the late 19th century. Thomas Dawson , pioneer of...

.

Editions

• First published in 1984 by Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
  
  
• Reissued in paperback (with corrections) in 1987 by Oxford University Press
• Second edition published in 1992 by Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-866164-9
• Paperback version of the second edition in 1996 ISBN 978-0192800497