Tassilo, Baron von Heydebrand und der Lasa (known in English as Baron von der Lasa, 17 October 1818,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
– 27 July 1899,
Storchnest near
Lissa,
Greater Poland
Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed ...
, then
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
) was a German
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
master, chess historian and
theoretician of the nineteenth century, a member of the Berlin Chess Club and a founder of the Berlin Chess School (the
Berlin Pleiades
The Berlin Pleiades was a group of seven masters of German chess in the 19th century. They are named after the star constellation the Pleiades.
The members of the Berlin Pleiades were:
* Paul Rudolf von Bilguer, Army Lieutenant and author of the ...
).
His name is usually abbreviated as "von der Lasa", as this is how he signed his letters. However both contemporary and more recent writers have used other abbreviations, such as "von Heydebrandt" (which is a misspelling) and "Der Lasa". The Prussian King (later Emperor)
William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
made a joke out of the confusion by saying, "Good morning, dear Heydebrand. What is von der Lasa doing?"
Von der Lasa was born 17 October 1818 in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. He studied law in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
and Berlin. From 1845 he was a diplomat in the service of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
. His career took him to
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
,
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, and
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, among other places. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1864, and thereafter devoted himself to the world of chess.
He played several matches and defeated the strongest masters in the period 1843–1853. He won against
Henry Thomas Buckle
Henry Thomas Buckle (24 November 1821 – 29 May 1862) was an English historian, the author of an unfinished ''History of Civilization'', and a strong amateur chess player. He is sometimes called "the Father of Scientific History".
Early life ...
2-1 (1843),
Adolf Anderssen
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. He won the great interna ...
4-2 (1845),
Johann Löwenthal
Johann Jacob Löwenthal ( hu, Löwenthal János Jakab; 15 July 1810 – 24 July 1876) was a professional chess master. He was among the top six players of the 1850s.
Biography
Löwenthal was born in Budapest, the son of a Jewish merchant. He ...
6-1 (1846),
John William Schulten 4-1 (1850), Anderssen 10-5 (1851), and
Howard Staunton
Howard Staunton (April 1810 – 22 June 1874) was an English chess master who is generally regarded as the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Am ...
7-6 (1853).
To the modern chess world he is known above all as the main author of the ''
Handbuch des Schachspiels
''Handbuch des Schachspiels'' (''Handbook of Chess'', often simply called the ''Handbuch'') is a chess 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 imp ...
'' (first published in 1843). His friend
Paul Rudolf von Bilguer
Paul Rudolf (or Rudolph) von Bilguer (21 September 1815 – 16 September 1840) was a German chess master and chess theoretician from Ludwigslust in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
Bilguer, who was a lieutenant in the Prussian army, ...
, responsible for the original plan, had died in 1840, with the work still in the early stages. Von der Lasa took over, and, in a noble gesture of friendship, put his friend's name as author. In later editions of the ''Handbuch'', in German commonly called ''der Bilguer'', von der Lasa was named as co-author.
In 1850 von der Lasa published in the ''
Deutsche Schachzeitung ''Deutsche Schachzeitung'' (English: "''German Chess Paper''") was the first German chess magazine.
Founded in 1846 by Ludwig Bledow under the title ''Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft'' and appearing monthly, it took the name ''Deutsch ...
'' (''German Chess Magazine'') a call for an international chess tournament, the first ever, to be held in
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
. Instead the first such tournament was held in 1851 in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Von der Lasa did not play in tournaments, being usually busy as an organizer, but played well in off-hand games against such leading masters as
Howard Staunton
Howard Staunton (April 1810 – 22 June 1874) was an English chess master who is generally regarded as the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Am ...
and
Adolf Anderssen
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. He won the great interna ...
. He was also a renowned chess investigator and theoretician, publishing numerous articles in the ''German Chess Magazine'' and, in 1897, his great work ''Zur Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels, Forschungen'' (''Researches in the History and Literature of Chess''). In the course of his researches he traveled extensively (including a trip around the world in 1887–88) and accumulated a comprehensive chess library, to which he published a catalog in 1896. In 1898 the German Chess Federation saluted his tireless efforts and accomplishments by conferring on him its first honorary membership.
One of von der Lasa's last services was to encourage
H. J. R. Murray
Harold James Ruthven Murray (24 June 1868 – 16 May 1955) was a British educationalist, inspector of schools, and prominent chess historian. His book, ''A History of Chess'', is widely regarded as the most authoritative and comprehensive his ...
to pursue further researches into the early history of chess. Von der Lasa died on 27 July 1899 in Storchnest bei
Lissa,
Posen (then in
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, now in Poland). His library is still intact at
Kórnik Castle
Kórnik Castle (Polish: Zamek w Kórniku or Zamek Kórnicki) is a castle in the Polish town of Kórnik, which was constructed in the 14th century. The current neogothic design and remodeling was done in 1855 partly on the basis of architect Karl ...
near
Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
.
Notes
References
*
H. J. R. Murray
Harold James Ruthven Murray (24 June 1868 – 16 May 1955) was a British educationalist, inspector of schools, and prominent chess historian. His book, ''A History of Chess'', is widely regarded as the most authoritative and comprehensive his ...
, ''
A History of Chess
The book ''A History of Chess'' was written by H. J. R. Murray (1868–1955) and published in 1913.
Details
Murray's aim is threefold: to present as complete a record as is possible of the varieties of chess that exist or have existed in differen ...
''
* Vlastimil Fiala (Ed.): ''Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa and his chess collection: international conference of chess historians, September 16–18'' (2003). Biblioteka Kórnicka, 2003.
External links
*
Jeremy P. Spinrad: Baron von Heydebrand und der Lasa (2006)ChessCafe.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasa, Von Der
1818 births
1899 deaths
Barons of Germany
German chess players
19th-century German historians
German diplomats
German chess writers
Chess historians
Sportspeople from Berlin
People from the Province of Brandenburg
19th-century chess players
19th-century German male writers
German male non-fiction writers