Three-dimensional chess

Kieseritzky's Cube Chess (German: Kubikschach) 3D gameboard, 1851.[1] The format was later picked up by Maack in 1907 when developing Raumschach. The levels are identified using Greek letters alpha through theta. According to David Pritchard, the 8×8×8 cell format is:
the most popular 3-D board amongst inventors, and at the same time the most mentally indigestible for the players [...] Less demanding on spatial vision, and hence more practical, are those games confined to three 8×8 boards and games with boards smaller than 8×8.[2]

Three-dimensional chess (or 3D chess) refers to any of various chess variants that use multiple boards at different levels, allowing the chess pieces to move in three physical dimensions. Three-dimensional variants have existed since the late 19th century, one of the oldest being Raumschach (German for "Space chess"), invented in 1907 by Ferdinand Maack and considered the classic 3D game.[3] Maack founded a Raumschach club in Hamburg in 1919, which remained active until World War II.

Chapter 25 of Pritchard's The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants discusses games using boards with three or more dimensions and contains some 50 such variations. Chapter 11 covers variants using multiple boards normally set side by side which can also be considered to add an extra dimension to chess.[4]

Three-dimensional chess is used colloquially to describe complex, dynamic systems with many competing entities and interests, including politics, diplomacy and warfare. To describe an individual as "playing three-dimensional chess" implies a higher-order understanding and mastery of the system beyond the comprehension of their peers or ordinary observers.[5][6]

Raumschach

The inventor contended that for chess to be more like modern warfare, attack should be possible not only from a two-dimensional plane but also from above (aerial) and below (underwater). Maack's original formulation was for an 8×8×8 board, but after experimenting with smaller boards eventually settled on 5×5×5 as best. Other obvious differences from standard chess include two additional pawns per player, and a special piece (two per player) named unicorn.

Board

The Raumschach 3D board can be thought of as a cube sliced into five equal spaces across each of its three major coordinal planes. This sectioning yields a 5×5×5 (125-cube) gamespace. The cubes (usually represented by squares and often called cells) alternate in color in all three dimensions.

Raumschach 5×5×5 gamespace

The horizontal levels are denoted by capital letters A through E. Ranks and files of a level are denoted using algebraic notation. White starts on the A and B levels and Black starts on E and D.

Rules

Ea5 black rookEb5 black knightEc5 black kingEd5 black knightEe5 black rook
Ea4 black pawnEb4 black pawnEc4 black pawnEd4 black pawnEe4 black pawn
Ea3Eb3Ec3Ed3Ee3
Ea2Eb2Ec2Ed2Ee2
Ea1Eb1Ec1Ed1Ee1
E
Da5 N dDb5 black bishopDc5 black queenDd5 N dDe5 black bishop
Da4 black pawnDb4 black pawnDc4 black pawnDd4 black pawnDe4 black pawn
Da3Db3Dc3Dd3De3
Da2Db2Dc2Dd2De2
Da1Db1Dc1Dd1De1
D
Ca5Cb5Cc5Cd5Ce5
Ca4Cb4Cc4 black circleCd4Ce4 black circle
Ca3Cb3Cc3Cd3 white crossCe3
Ca2Cb2Cc2 white crossCd2 white circleCe2 white cross
Ca1Cb1Cc1Cd1Ce1
C
Ba5Bb5Bc5Bd5Be5
Ba4Bb4Bc4Bd4Be4
Ba3Bb3 black circleBc3 white crossBd3 white circleBe3 white cross
Ba2 white pawnBb2 white pawnBc2 white pawnBd2 white pawnBe2 white pawn
Ba1 white bishopBb1 N lBc1 white queenBd1 white bishopBe1 N l
B
Aa5Ab5Ac5Ad5Ae5
Aa4Ab4Ac4Ad4Ae4
Aa3Ab3Ac3Ad3Ae3
Aa2 white pawnAb2 white pawnAc2 white pawnAd2 white pawnAe2 white pawn
Aa1 white rookAb1 white knightAc1 white kingAd1 white knightAe1 white rook
A
Raumschach starting position.[7] White's pawn on Bd2 can move to cells with a white dot and capture on cells marked "×". Black's unicorn on Dd5 can move to cells with a black dot or capture the white pawn on Aa2.

White moves first. The game objective, as in standard chess, is checkmate. Rooks, bishops, and knights move as they do in chess in any given plane.

  • A rook moves through the six faces of a cube in any rank, file, or column.
  • A bishop moves through the twelve edges of a cube.
  • A knight makes a (0,1,2) leap (the same effect as one step as a rook followed by one step as a bishop in the same outward direction) enabling it to control 24 different cells from the board's center.
  • A unicorn moves in a manner special to a 3D space (i.e. triagonal movement) through the corners of a cube, any number of steps in a straight line.[lower-alpha 1]
  • The queen combines the moves of a rook, bishop, and unicorn.[lower-alpha 2]
  • The king moves the same as the queen but one step at a time.
  • A pawn, as in chess, moves and captures always forward toward the promotion rank (rank E5 for White, rank A1 for Black). This includes moving one step directly upward (for White) or downward (for Black), and capturing one step diagonally upward (White) or diagonally downward (Black), through a front or side cube edge. In Raumschach there is no pawn initial two-step move (and consequently no capturing en passant), and no castling.

Star Trek Tri-Dimensional Chess

3D chess on Star Trek (from the episode "Court Martial")

Probably the most familiar 3D chess variant to the general public is the game of Tri-Dimensional Chess (or Tri-D Chess), which can be seen in many Star Trek TV episodes and movies, starting with the original series (TOS) and proceeding in updated forms throughout the subsequent movies and spinoff series.[8][lower-alpha 3]

The original Star Trek prop was crafted using boards from 3D Checkers and 3D Tic-Tac-Toe sets available in stores at the time (games also seen in TOS episodes) and adding chess pieces from the futuristic-looking Classic chess set designed by Peter Ganine in 1961.[11] The design retained the 64 squares of a traditional chessboard, but distributed them onto separate platforms in a hierarchy of spatial levels, suggesting to audiences how chess adapted to a future predominated by space travel. Rules for the game were never invented within the series[12] – in fact, the boards are sometimes not even aligned consistently from one scene to the next within a single episode.

The Tri-D chessboard was further realized by its inclusion in the Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph, who created starting positions for the pieces and short, additional rules.

Rules development

The complete Standard Rules for the game were originally developed in 1976 by Andrew Bartmess (with encouragement from Joseph) and were subsequently expanded by him into a commercially available booklet.[13] A free summary in English of the Standard Rules is contained on Charles Roth's website, including omissions and ambiguities regarding piece moves across the four Tri-D gameboard 2×2 attack boards.

A complete set of tournament rules for Tri-Dimensional Chess written by Jens Meder is available on his website. Meder's rules are based on FIDE's rules more than Andrew Bartmess' Standard Rules, with some deviations too. A repository of Tournament Rules games can be found on the website of Michael Klein.

Board details

The Tri-D chessboard
Playing Parmen

Plans for constructing a Tri-D chessboard can be found on The Chess Variant Pages, as well as in Bartmess' Tri-D Chess Rules. Details for building a travel-size board are included on Meder's website.

Software

There is software for playing Tri-D Chess. Parmen is a Windows application written by Doug Keenan and available free on his website. A free Android version of Tri D Chess is offered by AwfSoft.

Millennium 3D Chess

Millennium 3D Chess, created by William L. D'Agostino in 2001, employs three stacked 8×8 boards.[14] The inventor describes his objective as "extending the traditional chess game into a multilevel environment without distorting the basic game."

See also

Parallel Worlds Chess

Notes

  1. ↑ Thus each unicorn can reach a total of 30 cells of the 125-cell gamespace; each player's pair, 60.
  2. ↑ Thus giving the queen a total of 26 different directions to move (6 faces plus 12 edges plus 8 corners).
  3. ↑ There is some discussion whether this game should be called "Tri-Dimensional Chess" as in the Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual[9] or "Three-Dimensional Chess" as in The Star Trek Encyclopedia[10] and as on Memory Alpha.
  4. ↑ "Alice Chess, a well-considered variant, may also be classified as a 3-D game." (Pritchard 1994:305). "In a sense, it is a three-dimensional game, since the board can be thought of as measuring 8×8×2 (in squares)." (Schmittberger 1992:197).

References

  1. ↑ Dickins (1971), p. 16.
  2. ↑ Pritchard (1994), p. 305.
  3. ↑ Pritchard (2007), p. 229.
  4. ↑ Pritchard (2007), p. 93.
  5. ↑ "Obama Is Playing Three-Dimensional Chess". Daily Kos. Kos Media, LLC. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  6. ↑ "The Enduring Appeal of Seeing Trump as Chess Master in Chief". The New York Times Magazine. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  7. ↑ Dickins (1971), p. 17.
  8. ↑ Pritchard (2007), p. 226.
  9. ↑ Schnaubelt (1975), p. T0:03:98:3x.
  10. ↑ Okuda (1997), p. 342.
  11. ↑ "Vintage Chessmen by Peter Ganine". Dansk the Night Away. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  12. ↑ Okuda (1997), p. 509.
  13. ↑ Bartmess, Andrew (2005). The Federation Standard Tri-D Chess Rules (Revision 5.0 ed.).
  14. ↑ Pritchard (2007), p. 227.

Bibliography

Further reading

Raumschach

Star Trek Tri-D

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