Three-dimensional chess

Kirk and Spock play three-dimensional chess

Spock plays three-dimensional chess against the computer

"Chess isn't just a game of ploys and gambits. It's a game of intuition."

– Deanna Troi, 2368 ("Conundrum")

Three-dimensional chess was a variant of the ancient Earth board game chess.

It was an accustomed pastime of Kirk and Spock aboard the USS Enterprise in the 23rd century and its popularity extended into the 24th century.

Play

Movement of pieces is similar to that of traditional chess. The main difference is that, in the course of a move, pieces may move up or down any number of levels.

According to the Star Fleet Technical Manual, the starting positions of king and queen pieces are on their own respective attack boards with their own set of rooks and pawns. Knights, bishops, and the remaining pawns occupy the first two ranks of each color's fixed boards.

Moves

• Aldabren Exchange
• El-Mitra Exchange
• Kriskov Gambit
• Queen's gambit

History

Captain Philippa Georgiou kept a three-dimensional chess board in her ready room on the USS Shenzhou. (DIS: "The Vulcan Hello")

At least as early as 2257, Spock kept a three-dimensional chess board in his quarters on the USS Enterprise. (DIS: "Brother")

That year, his foster sister, Michael Burnham, brought a three-dimensional chess set out of storage in her quarters while Spock was visiting her there. Although he was initially somewhat puzzled by the gesture because he didn't know how it could aid him in attempting to contemplate the Red Angel, Burnham suggested that the game might help Spock consider the Red Angel logically, since the game itself represented logic. Accusing Spock of being frightened of losing, Burnham challenged him to a game, which he then accepted. However, Spock proceeded to play a series of moves that Burnham was baffled by and considered illogical, though he executed them in an effort to defy her expectations. When their conflict verbally and emotionally escalated, Spock struck the chess board with his right hand, causing it and the pieces still on the board to fall to the floor in disarray. (DIS: "Project Daedalus") The pieces and board were later sorted back into place and Spock subsequently invited Burnham to make the first move of a new game between them, which she proceeded to act on. (DIS: "Perpetual Infinity")

In general, Spock was an exceptional chess player, and his game was consistently logical. However, he often had a difficult time predicting or effectively responding to unexpected moves made by his frequent opponents, Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "Court Martial", et al.)

In 2266, while the Enterprise and its crew were apparently helpless against the alien Balok threatening to destroy them, Spock compared the situation to chess, suggesting that the Enterprise crew was checkmated and the game was over. However, a comment from McCoy led Kirk to reject Spock's chess analogy and try a bluff similar to playing poker with the alien instead. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")

Spock introduced chess to young passenger Charles Evans, who disliked the involved nature of the game. After losing, he destroyed Spock's chess pieces. (TOS: "Charlie X")

In the stage directions from the final draft script of "Charlie X", the white chess pieces were said to be used by Spock, with the dark pieces scripted to be used by Evans. In the final version of the episode, though, the opposite is true.

Spock also enjoyed playing chess against a rival logical mind, that of the Enterprise computer. In 2266, he detected programming errors in the computer's databanks because of faulty chess moves made by the computer. He later introduced the tampering and unreliability of the computer's records as defense evidence in the court martial of Captain Kirk. (TOS: "Court Martial")

A particular chess move in "Court Martial" was scripted (in the final draft and the revised final draft of the script) as "Bishop half level right to knight six," but, in the final version of the episode, was stated, "Rook to king's pawn four."

In 2268, Spock played a game of chess against Kelvan expedition leader Rojan. He observed, during their match, that Rojan's game was "off." (TOS: "By Any Other Name")

This suggests it was not the first time they had played each other.

Later that year, Kirk and his senior officers used a chess-based code as transporter clearance, when Garth of Izar planned to escape from the Elba II insane asylum. Chief engineer Scott declined to beam Garth, disguised as Kirk, to the Enterprise, when, after he challenged Garth with the code phrase "queen to queen's level 3", Garth could not respond with the correct pass phrase (which Spock revealed as "queen to king's level 1" when he called for transport back to the Enterprise). (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy")

A problem based on a type of three-dimensional chess on a spherical board was part of a memory test Spock took in 2286. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

The Darwin children playing chess

A group of genetically enhanced children at the Darwin Genetic Research Station played three-dimensional chess by using telekinetic abilities they had been given. (TNG: "Unnatural Selection")

In 2366, Commander William T. Riker defeated both Ferengi Doctor Farek and a Ferengi guard at a presumably alien variant of 3D chess. The former defeat was in Ten Forward, and the latter took place while Riker was a captive of the Ferengi, along with both Counselor Deanna Troi and her mother, Lwaxana Troi. (TNG: "Ménage à Troi")

Reginald Barclay analyzed a chess game after being altered by the Cytherians. He made a move that would force checkmate within nine moves, despite not having previously been a player of the game. (TNG: "The Nth Degree")

Two years later, Counselor Troi managed to beat Lieutenant Commander Data at a game of 3D chess in Ten Forward, prompting Data to honor a bet they had agreed upon, whereby Data was to make Troi a Samarian sunset in the "traditional style." (TNG: "Conundrum")

Commander Benjamin Sisko, also a fan of the game, kept a three-dimensional chess set in his quarters aboard Deep Space 9. (DS9: "Move Along Home", "The Nagus", "The Maquis, Part I", "Statistical Probabilities")

Residents of Coppelius Station play three-dimensional chess

In 2399, residents of Coppelius Station play three-dimensional chess. Also, a single board and pieces are seen on a tabletop in Jean-Luc Picard's quarters at the station. (PIC: "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1")

Appendices

Appearances

• TOS:
  • "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
  • "The Corbomite Maneuver"
  • "Charlie X"
  • "Court Martial"
  • "By Any Other Name"
  • "Whom Gods Destroy"
  • "Day of the Dove"
• TNG:
  • "Too Short a Season"
  • "When The Bough Breaks"
  • "Coming of Age"
  • "Symbiosis"
  • "The Neutral Zone"
  • "The Schizoid Man"
  • "Unnatural Selection"
  • "Pen Pals"
  • "Q Who"
  • "Booby Trap"
  • "The Price"
  • "Ménage à Troi"
  • "Transfigurations"
  • "The Best of Both Worlds"
  • "Suddenly Human"
  • "Galaxy's Child"
  • "The Nth Degree"
  • "Conundrum"
  • "Lower Decks"
• DS9:
  • "Move Along Home"
  • "The Nagus"
  • "If Wishes Were Horses"
  • "Dramatis Personae"
  • "The Homecoming"
  • "Second Sight"
  • "The Maquis, Part I"
  • "Life Support"
  • "Explorers"
  • "For the Cause"
  • "Trials and Tribble-ations"
  • "Statistical Probabilities"
  • "Strange Bedfellows"
• ENT:
  • "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II"
  • "These Are the Voyages..."
• DIS:
  • "The Vulcan Hello"
  • "Brother"
  • "Project Daedalus"
  • "Perpetual Infinity"
• PIC: "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1"

See also

• Space Checkers (aka Three-dimensional checkers)

Background information

Collectibles company Franklin Mint produced two different tridimensional chess sets; one based on the TOS four "attack board" version, and a second based on the TNG six-boarded version.

A call sheet from the episode "The Schizoid Man", dated 4 November 1988, listed three-dimensional chess as one of the required items from the art department in the special instructions section. Here, it was referred to as "Okuda chess set".

Apocrypha

The Pocket Books novel "The Klingon Gambit" additionally made several references to three-dimensional chess.

The novelization of Star Trek makes a quick – and foreshadowing – reference; as the two fight their way through the Narada (largely a fistfight rather than the gun battle seen in the film), Kirk, marveling at Spock's highly effective use of Suus Mahna (thinking to himself, "he even fights logically"), concluded, correctly, that the Vulcan must play a "mean game" of 3-D chess.

Kirk and Spock playing three-dimensional chess in the alternate reality

A game of three-dimensional chess figures in the first appearance of Kirk and Spock in the 2013 video game Star Trek, when their game play is interrupted by a distress call coming from the Helios station, just after the captain's tactical error is exploited by the Vulcan. After Spock leaves his quarters, Kirk sneaks back into the room and moves the Vulcan's piece surreptitiously. This version is somewhat different in that the attack board may be suspended below the main board.

External links

• Three-dimensional chess at Wikipedia
• Three-dimensional chess at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Star Trek 3D Chess at ChessVariants.org
• Kobayashi Maru Variant at ChessVariants.org
• Parmen - Free Tridimensional Chess Software
• Tridimensional Chess Rules
• 3D Chess
• Tournament rules for Three-dimensional Chess
• 3D Chess at BoardGameGeek