Alexander Petrov | Rukowodstwo k’osnowatelnomu poruanno schaschetnoj ig, St Petersburg, 1827

Alexander Petrov

Руководство къ основательному познанiю шашечной игры, или Искусство обыгрывать всѣхъ въ простыя шашки [Rukowodstwo k’osnowatelnomu poruanno schaschetnoj ig]. St. Petersburg: A. Smirdin, 1827

8vo (180 x 110 mm), engraving of a draughts board, publisher's original wrappers, dampstaining to wrappers and title page, first two leaves soiled, marginal dampstaining throughout text, wrappers frayed and worn at spine

Alexander Petrov (1794–1867) was the first great Russian grandmaster. He was the best player in St Petersburg by the time he was 20, and in later years was patron to the great Russian theorist Carl Friedrich Jaenisch (with whom he perfected the Petrov Defence). He was also the author of one of the earliest Russian chess handbooks in 1824 (for the first, see lot 8). Three years later, he published the present work, known in English as A guide to a thorough knowledge of the game of draughts: the first Russian book on draughts. Draughts became exceedingly popular in nineteenth-century Russia, with the first championship held in 1894.