Literally -
Space Chess, in
German.
A 3D Chess Variant. It is played on a board 5x5x5 squares large. The object of the game is to place the opponent's king in checkmate.
___________________
| R | N | K | N | R |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| P | P | P | P | P |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___| Board E
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
___________________
| U | B | Q | U | B |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| P | P | P | P | P |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___| Board D
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
___________________
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___| Board C
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
___________________
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___| Board B
| | | | | |
|_p_|_p_|_p_|_p_|_p_|
| | | | | |
|_b_|_u_|_q_|_b_|_u_|
___________________
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___| 5
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___| 4
| | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___| 3 Board A
| | | | | |
|_p_|_p_|_p_|_p_|_p_| 2
| | | | | |
|_r_|_n_|_k_|_n_|_r_| 1
a b c d e
The boards are coloured thus: A, C and E -
black corners, B and D -
white corners.
White is lowercase, black is uppercase.
Moves
- Rook - Can move in a straight line along any row, column or rank. i.e. it moves orthogonally in any plane.
- Bishop - Can move diagonally in any plane (normal diagonals), so the colour of its square stays the same.
- Unicorn - Can move on 3D diagonals. It cannot move on only 2 planes simultaneously. (Envision the boards as a cube - it moves from one corner of a cube to the corner furthest away).
- Knight - Can move 2 squares on one plane, and 1 one another (much like regular chess).
- Pawn - Moves forward one square in it's plane
or across one board. Pawns, like in regular chess, can only move in the direction of queening. Pawns queen on the farthest row of the farthest board. So white's pawns queen on row 5 of board E. Pawns capture diagonally, much like in regular chess. Pawns cannot move two squares, so there is no en passant. A white pawn on Bb2 can move to Bb3 or Cb2, and can capture at Ba3, Bc3, Ca2 and Ca4. Some versions allow it to capture on Cb3 (I do).
- Queen - Can move as a Rook, Bishop or Unicorn.
- King - Can move one square in any direction, including 3D diagonals.
Whew... I think that about sums it up. Try playing it... It's the toughest
chess variant I've played, by a long shot. It's really difficult to get the
3D layout in your head. Sometimes
checks, and even
mates can go
unheeded by both players, if they are not experinced enough.