Three-dimensional chess

The term 3D Chess ( three-dimensional chess ) it summarizes all chess variants that expand the "normal" (two-dimensional ) Chess is a coordinate axis. In addition to different number and arrangement of fields, there are also different sets of rules for most 3D chess games.

Space Chess

The idea of ​​a three-dimensional chess is relatively old. The Baltic chess master and former mathematics teacher Lionel Kieseritzky already constructed mid-19th century, a "Space chess ", but came across as a description of the then leading German chess player Adolf Anderssen suggests so. Disinterest or amusement Anderssen's eyewitness account ( " where I saw hanging an object, the form and content with a bird Gebauer had similarity " ) is an early testimony to the design problems that complicate implementation of the spatial chess thought.

One of the oldest 3D chess variants is the chess room (originally " chess room game" ), which was founded in 1907, developed by Ferdinand Maack, a physician and author of esoteric works. Maack decided after he first experimented with eight board levels, for a more easily recordable "cube" with five stacked boards, each with 5x5 fields. He also recommended to introduce a special room with the unicorn chess piece. She pulls on the body diagonals analogous to the runners at the two-dimensional chess.

A further development towards 8x8x8 developed Werner Baeumler ( artist name Laurin ). The rules aim, unlike the check space version of Maack, for an exact as possible the transformation of the surface into the space chess. The game developers Waldemar Zöllmer presented in 2005 a similarly oriented rules. In this construction, instead of overlying Fields Figures are attached to nylon filaments to form a larger play of transparency and be able to detect every 512 fields at a glance.

Star Trek Chess

Another very well-known 3D chess variant is the one that in 1965 for the first time in the television series "Star Trek" ( German title "Star Trek " ) was shown. Due to its origin of this game is also known as Star Trek chess.

For Star Trek chess there are no official rules. Individual supporters therefore created different sets of rules. Among the oldest rule works include the "Standard Rules version 1.0 by Andrew Bartmess ". Of these rules, there are several partially contradictory German translations. The most frequently represented in the Internet is translation by Martin Vorlaender. Meanwhile, there are of these rules, however, version 5.0, which radically differs to some extent from the original version.

A more detailed, another set of rules for Star Trek chess are the " Tournament Rules of Jens Meder, Michael Klein and others," based on the FIDE Laws of the World Chess Federation. There are now also by Douglas M. Keenan, a 3D chess program for Windows called Parmentier. It can work against each other as play against a computer opponent. Parmentier offers two different control variants: A is similar to the rules of Andrew Bartmess, the other is based on the " Tournament Rules of Jens Meder ". On a full implementation of tournament rules are still working.

Other variants

Besides the above- featured 3D chess variants can draw from an almost inexhaustible supply. All variants is hardly possible to describe in detail. Often special new characters were developed. Are most evident and remain the differences, which are caused by the different 3D chess.

A large group form the cube shape chess games such as the space of chess Maack ( 5x5x5 ) or a transfer to eight board levels. In addition, please also solutions with 4x4x4 and 6x6x6 some popularity. In addition to the chess variations in cube shape also exist games where the number of the boards does not correspond to the number of lines and rows. The most popular representative in this category is probably the 8x8x3 chess. Last seen the pyramids chess games are mentioned, in which the boards are becoming smaller upwards, until only one is left field.