Rules of Raumschach
The combined Four-Space and Five-Space Raumschach model by Dr. Maack is available from any toy shop.
When assembling the Raumschach set, observe the following:
To play SIII4, the model is simply turned upside down and rotated ¼ to the right; the right square at the bottom must be white. The topmost board remains empty. — Of course, one can also assemble the model so that the boardless plate is the bottom one for the Four-Space game.
p. 4We begin playing at once! Anyone can effortlessly replay the games and thereby learn, through practical play, the simple rules and interesting peculiarities of three-dimensional chess.
In contrast to board chess, where pieces move only on a single plane, pieces in Raumschach move in all directions, including upward and downward! A chess game has been compared to a battle between the “Whites” and the “Blacks,” whose goal is to capture the enemy king. But whereas board chess is a battle waged with outdated weapons — a battle taking place only on the flat plane — the new Raumschach is fought with thoroughly modern weapons, with submarines and airships, so to speak!
Anyone wishing to know more about Raumschach than these brief “Rules” can offer, or who wishes to go beyond the game and explore the chess science grounded in spatial thinking, may request a free sample issue of the Mitteilungen über Raumschach, wissenschaftliche Schachforschung und verwandte raumwissenschaftliche Probleme from the author.
Otherwise the author is happy to provide further information. Anyone who wishes may also send him played games, which may then be published.
p. 5Assemble the model — that is, the playing field, the chess space — as shown in Fig. 1. The lower right square is white. All other squares alternate in color. The boards are counted from bottom to top: I, II, III, IV, or α, β, γ, δ (alpha, beta, gamma, delta). The remaining square designations follow the customary chess notation. The square at the lower right is thus called, for example, α d 1 (or I d 1).
The pieces (the same as in board chess) are as follows: Rook. R.; Bishop. B.; Queen. Q.; King. K.; Pawn. P.; Knight. N.
The pieces are now arranged according to the following diagram:
Set aside all questions and doubts for now and immediately replay the following games.
The moves of the Raumschach pieces are derived from the cube. In the playing models, only the base surfaces have been retained from the cubic cells (“chess cells”) for practical reasons. Take any cube in hand and feel its 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 corners. Theoretically, one must imagine the pieces as standing on the cube’s cells. If a piece wishes to move out of, into, or through the cube, 26 “doors” (6 + 12 + 8) are available to it. Accordingly, there are “face-moves, edge-moves, and corner-moves.” Face-moves are made by the Rook (R), edge-moves by the Bishop (B), and corner-moves by the “Unicorn” (U). The latter we shall become better acquainted with in the Five-Space game. R, B, and U move as far as they wish; but they can only approach up to the next obstacle, i.e. up to a friendly piece of one’s own, or take the place of an enemy piece, which they then “capture” (×) and remove. An example of a face-move is, in Game II, Black’s 11th move: R δ a 3 × N γ a 3; also G. I, 2, w.: P γ b 1 – γ b 2. An edge-move is shown by G. I, 1, w.: B β a 1 – γ a 2, or G. I, 2, b.: B γ d 4 × P γ b 2, or G. I, 3, w.: P γ a 1 × B γ b 2. A corner-move is G. II, 2, b.: N δ c 4 – γ b 3, or G. I, 1, b.: K γ c 4 – δ b 3. In the Four-Space, p. 7 for example, α a 1 – α a 4, or – α d 1, or – δ a 1 are face- or rook-moves; α a 1 – α d 4, or – δ a 4, or – δ d 1 are edge- or bishop-moves; α a 1 – δ d 4 is a corner- or unicorn-move. One can see that a corner-move always changes the board and the square color; that a bishop-move can remain on the same board and is “color-faithful”; that a face-move can remain on the same board, but changes the square color. R, B, and U are multi-step pieces, “long-range.” The Queen (Q) moves and captures either like R, or like B, or like U. The King (K) likewise. But it is single-step only, i.e. it can only go to the adjacent square — from its current square to any of the 26 squares surrounding it, provided it stands freely in the middle of the space. The Pawn (P) moves one step like R, or captures one step like B, but not backward — though it may move downward as well as upward. The Knight (N), finally, moves and captures one rook-step plus one bishop-step, e.g. from α a 1 – α b 3 or – α c 2. Into the third dimension (upward) it could go from α a 1 to β a 3 or to β c 1, resp. to γ a 2 or to γ b 1. However, we reserve — for practical reasons — the spatial leap for the Five-Space game. Here, in the Four-Space, N leaps only on its current board, while in space it makes only corner-moves (compare the N-moves in Game II), thus behaving like a Unicorn (with which it is inwardly related). As a Knight, N can “leap” over a friendly or enemy piece.
When the enemy king is under attack (cf. G. I, 1, w.), one says “check” (†) and the king must parry this check. This is done either by the K moving away (G. I, 1, b.), in which case in Raumschach the king may also retreat upward or downward — though it may also be attacked from below or above; or by interposing a piece (G. II, 1, b. or G. II, 2, b.), i.e. the check is “covered”; or finally by capturing the checking piece (G. I, 2, b.). If the king captures, it may not thereby place itself in “check” again. The objective, the purpose, the conclusion of the game consists in pressing the enemy king into such a position that it becomes powerless — i.e. that it can neither escape, interpose, nor capture. Once the king is cut off from all escape in this way, it is “checkmate” and has lost the game. Game II shows three different possibilities for checkmating the K (three mating pictures, mating positions, mating nets). If neither player can achieve checkmate, the game is considered drawn, “remis.”
It should also be noted that Raumschach (like board chess) is played only by two persons or sides. It is a two-player game. White always moves first. Moves alternate. Regarding the pawns, it should be added that they can promote to any other piece (usually the queen) when they reach the p. 8 farthest rank of the opponent. Thus the white pawns promote on the squares δ a 4, δ b 4, δ c 4, δ d 4, and the black pawns on the squares α a 1, α b 1, α c 1, α d 1.
It is not strictly necessary that the initial arrangement of pieces be that which is assumed in Games I and II. But this arrangement — which we designate as SIII4 B (where S stands for chess space, III for the third dimension, and 4 for the number of cells along the edge of the chess space) — has proven best through years of experience. If four additional black pawns are added on α a 4, α b 4, α c 4, α d 4, and four additional white pawns on δ a 1, δ b 1, δ c 1, δ d 1, the terrain becomes too congested. However, for practice with this arrangement, which we designate SIII4 A, a few more games are presented.
Notes:
The immediate mobility of all officers at the start of the game enables White, even with the chess space still full — i.e. with the king still hemmed in — to force the attack and keep Black in check throughout the entire game. Black defends itself initially in a very simple and correct, and outwardly elegant manner. Its 11th move is very good. It unleashes the B and N. But White’s 12th move saves the R α a 1, which was threatened by N γ c 3, (for if 12. ... N γ c 3 × R α a 1; 13. K β b 1 × N α a 1, Q β c 3 – α b 2 mate) and introduces the decisive play, which is further accelerated by Black’s poor 18th move. It should have been 18. ... Q δ c 3 × P γ b 3.
Incidentally, none of the games presented here are intended to be “master games” — they are merely characteristic practice examples.
We shall not enter into other initial arrangements here. Finding them and trying them out in practice is an interesting task for more experienced players. We mention only that in SIII4 B the swapping of the black queen with the black king (at ∩ in the diagram) leads to the arrangement SIII4 C. This arrangement, in which the kings stand vis-à-vis, has the advantage of a correct “polarization” of the game (“king’s wing,” “queen’s wing”).
Assemble the model as shown in Fig. 2. The chess space SIII5 thus consists of 5 × 5 × 5 = 125 squares (whereas the Four-Space SIII4 contained only 4 × 4 × 4 = 64 squares). The boards are, from bottom to top: α, β, γ, δ, ε (epsilon), or I, II, III, IV, V. The Five-Space is distinguished by a central square (γ c 3) from which the queen commands 52 squares. Due to the symmetry of the chess space, orientation and play in the Five-Space is particularly pleasant and easy to survey.
The pieces are the same as in the Four-Space. In addition, the “Unicorn” enters. The Unicorn has the form of a Knight bearing a horn on its forehead. The functions of the Four-Space Knight are thus now split into two independent pieces: 1. the Unicorn moves only through corners (it is therefore powerless on its own board!); 2. the Knight leaps only, including through space (it can potentially skip a board!). Each player has two Unicorns in the Five-Space and, according to the following diagram, five pawns.
The arrangement (SIII5 A) is as follows:
The possibilities of play are far from exhausted with the Four-Space game (SIII4) and the Five-Space game (SIII5). One can enlarge the space and advance to SIII6, SIII7, SIII8 . . . (See the models in the photograph from the Hamburg Chess Exhibition.) But the larger the space, the more pieces are needed and the longer the game lasts. For the present, the Four-Space and Five-Space games offer so much that is entirely new and beautiful, and contribute to such a high degree to enjoyment and instruction, and to the cultivation of spatial intuition, that young and old alike will be thoroughly satisfied. Learning Raumschach presents no difficulties! Prior knowledge — such as knowledge of board chess — is absolutely not required for it, and is often even a hindrance, as it leads to mistaken preconceptions. Raumschach is not an “extension” of board chess, but an entirely independent game with its own laws and concepts. Above all, one should immediately replay the given games mechanically; then seek to orient oneself among the possible move directions in space; connect the power points or pieces scattered and shifting about in space; practice the notation of the boards and squares; note that the value or quality of the pieces in space is different from that on the board; — in short, feel and think one’s way into the whole. Then one will soon recognize that Raumschach is the chess of the future.
p. 15Printed by Aug. Klöppel in Eisleben.