Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

The promotion zone the article mentions makes no sense to me

Indeed. And the CECV and Moeser both say that the promotion zones are E*5 and A*1. (Not also D*5 and B*1 as you suggest, perhaps just because the pawns there can still advance one more.)

Also, @Fergus, the green version of the item description here is completely unreadable on the new background color of comment headers.

The promotion zone the article mentions makes no sense to me: Pawns can be moved such that they never could reach the zone. It would make more sense to have white Pawns promote where the black (non-Pawn) pieces start. So the far end of level D and E, not of A and B.

I am extremely curious as to what you came up with in regards to a Raumschach board which allows you to visualize the unicorns without taking away from the visualization of the bishops. I don’t know if this comment will notify you, but if it does and you still have the diagrams my email is [email protected]. I’m quite late to this page but I only recently found this game and am greatly enjoying learning it.

Excellent! Thank you very much

I found the book from the inventor describing the game in 1919:

https://core.ac.uk/reader/14514151.

He gives multiple versions of the starting position and rules for pawn movement, as well as also describing some 4x4x4 and 7x7x7 variants. The version this article covers is the 10 pawn version (C³) of type C "Neue", which Maack calls the normal way to play. There is also the type A "alte" with pawns only on the γ level, and the type B "vier Einhörnern" where each side has four unicorns, but only one rook and knight, in order to span the whole board with each piece. All of the diagrams in the book show point reflection symmetry, not rotation symmetry, between the two sides, contrary to this article. The type B "reduzierte" pawn movement which the author prefers is disliked by Maack, in favor of the type C "neue" pawn which includes the forward-and-vertical capture.

Please make good use of this primary source, which, it seems, no one until now has found.

@Kelvin, I think these are equivalent, because of the current text's requirement "always in the same coordinate plane," or from the later "never step through the corner of a cell."

Also equivalent, I think, is the one-orthogonal one-diagonal-outward if this page treated the unicorn's "triagonal" as non-diagonal.  I think maybe the easiest description would be "like a knight in any of the coordinate planes," but that's probably pretty subjective.

If you disagree with any of these equivalences, could you point out an example move that one has that the other doesn't?

The description for the knight is incorrect. It should read that the knight moves tw squares in one rook wise direction and 1 in another. The piece's current description, while making the same piece as the first one on 2d boards, gives a different piece on 3d boards

What if you changed the unicorn so that in addition to its normal move/capture movement along the corners of cubes, it could move (but not capture) only one square along a diagonal edge of a cube?  That would allow each unicorn to cover all the squares of it's color, without making it too overpowered. 

I'd tentatively estimate the relative piece values in Raumschach as follows:

P=1; U=1.75; R=3; B=3.25; N=5; Q=10, and a K has a fighting value =6.66 (noting it can't be traded).

Two possibly interesting variations on the rules of Raumschach could be based on altering its setup postion, replacing each side's rather weak Unicorns with either Manns (non-royal pieces that move like kings), or alternatively compound pieces, all of Mann & Unicorn movement capabilities combined. I tend to fancy the latter alternative at the moment (keeping the setup position the same in other respects). In either variation of the rules, the Unicorns are replaced with in effect major pieces (joining the queen as one), and perhaps significantly increasing the possibility of delivering an early mate (moreso if the suggested compound pieces are used). Meanwhile, rooks, bishops and knights are still preserved as relative minor pieces, and might be swapped without great loss for a few pawns if required during a game.

I'm not sure either idea for a variation on the rules of Raumschach would be significant enough to warrant 1 or 2 submissions to CVP, but I thought I'd put the variations out there for possible discussion, at least. As an aside, I think Alice Chess is, to date, the ultimate 3D variant as far as being chess-like, but if Raumschach can be improved on somehow that still may be worthwhile as a goal.

H.G. wrote:

K.Pacey> in Raumschach there are possible mating positions with a K & B plus R

"How do you envisage that? Even in a corner the bare King can only be limited to a plane, and the other pieces would have to cover 4 squares in that plane (including the one the bare King is on). A Bishop could check and cover one of those at the same time, but the only way for a Rook to cover the other two would put it in a place that blocks the Bishop from checking.

I think you need at least two Rooks to have a mate position. And I am not sure that is forcible."

Hi H.G.

I imagined the lone K in a corner on the upper level. The superior side's K would be in opposition to it on the same file (say), same level. The superior side's B would be on the square between them on the same file, same level. The superior side's R (the mating piece) would be on the same corner square as the lone king, except one level below it. The R would be protected by the B. Thus, aside from the superior side's K guarding 4 critical squares, the B guards 2 critical squares (including one on the upper level), and the R guards 2 critical squares (including one on the level below the Ks). That's if I've visualized this all correctly.

I noted an acknowledgement of Mr Pfieffer in pointing out the error. However there is no acknowledgement of David Paulowich for pointing out another error. According to Dickins' book Black pawns promote on A first rank, White pawns promote on E fifth rank.

This page (& the associated Zillions rules file) would be good if the pieces were set up correctly. Mr Pfieffer is right: according to Anthony Dickins "A Guide to Fairy Chess" the positions of the Black pieces on the D-level should be:

Da5-Unicorn, Db5-Bishop, Dc5-Queen, Dd5-Unicorn, De5-Bishop.

That is, each player should see each of their Bishops to the left of each of their Unicorns. Unfortunately the author has not yet corrected this error.

Dickins' book is a secondary source, based on articles by T.R.Dawson in Chess Amateur 1926. The most authoritative source would be Ferdinand Maack's original three books in German; if anyone has access to these books and can show that Dickins was wrong, then I stand corrected. However this page references Dickins' book without correctly implementing it.

There are problems with Raumschach as a game, one being the incomplete coverage of the 3D-board by the Unicorns. However Raumschach has a place in Chess history, and should be correctly presented with all its faults.

The initial setup of the black pieces is wrong. 
For the correct starting array swap the black Bishops with the Unicorns. Then you get the following arrangement at the Level D:

+---+---+---+---+---+
| u | b | q | u | b | 5  Queen Dc5; Bishop Db5, De5; Unicorn Da5, Dd5; 
+---+---+---+---+---+
| p | p | p | p | p | 4  Pawn Da4, Db4, Dc4; Dd4; De4.
+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   | 3
+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   | 2
+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   | 1
+---+---+---+---+---+
  a   b   c   d   e

Unfortunately also the Zillions file in 'raum.zip' copied this error.

The error does not occur at the old page for this variant: 'http://www.chessvariants.com/old.dir/3d5.html'.

See also the books:
 Anthony Dickins: A Guide to Fairy Chess, and
 D. B. Pritchard: The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants.

ATTENTION: the following diagram and rules are (c) 2004 Jim Aikin and are taken from his webpage Five Up. Note: Jim's 5x5x5 variant sets up the White pieces on the top two levels, thus requiring the White Pawns to move downwards. Apart from this change, his pawn movement rules are the same as those stated in my comment ten days earlier.

Figure 6. The white pawn shown here, which is advancing toward the A5 row, 
can make capturing moves to the cells marked 'x' and non-capturing moves to the cells marked '+'.

   _ _ _ _ _     _ _ _ _ _     _ _ _ _ _     _ _ _ _ _     _ _ _ _ _  
5 |_|_|_|_|_| 5 |_|_|_|_|_| 5 |_|_|_|_|_| 5 |_|_|_|_|_| 5 |_|_|_|_|_| 
4 |_|_|_|_|_| 4 |_|x|_|_|_| 4 |x|+|x|_|_| 4 |_|_|_|_|_| 4 |_|_|_|_|_| 
3 |_|_|_|_|_| 3 |x|+|x|_|_| 3 |_|P|_|_|_| 3 |_|_|_|_|_| 3 |_|_|_|_|_| 
2 |_|_|_|_|_| 2 |_|_|_|_|_| 2 |_|_|_|_|_| 2 |_|_|_|_|_| 2 |_|_|_|_|_| 
1 |_|_|_|_|_| 1 |_|_|_|_|_| 1 |_|_|_|_|_| 1 |_|_|_|_|_| 1 |_|_|_|_|_| 
A  a b c d e  B  a b c d e  C  a b c d e  D  a b c d e  E  a b c d e 

Would setting the preset up sideways help? 
/play/pbm/play.php?game%3DSideways+Raumschach%26settings%3DRaumschach+Revised%2C+Sideways
I think it would be pretty obvious where pawns could promote with this setup.

ATTENTION: the 3-D CHESS FAQ FILE contradicts this Raumschach page with the following information: 'Pawns promote on the back rank of the opponent's end-level. White Pawns promote on the fifth rank of Level E; Black Pawns promote on the first rank of Level A. Dickins notes that in capturing Pawns must move toward their promotion rank. The '3-D' application of this rule means that a White Pawn on Cc3 can capture on Cb4 or Cd4 (like regular chess) or on Db3, Dd3, or Dc4, but not Db2. (Db2 is upward but backwards -- toward White's back rank instead of toward Black's back rank.)'

NOTE: I have a text-file copy of Bruce Balden's two newsgroup posts on October 8, 1990. I believe that he has accidentally reversed the pawn promotion zones and that the rules originally given on this page are also mistaken. Here is one reason for believing so. Everyone agrees that a pawn on level 'C' must either remain on that level or move to an adjacent level: 'D' for a White Pawn or 'B' for a Black Pawn. But this means that a pawn on level 'C' will never promote (according to Bruce Balden). So I accept David Moeser's pawn promotion zones (the starting squares of your opponent's King, Knights, Rooks) as stated in the 3-D CHESS FAQ FILE.

ALSO: my Raumschach Revised preset has the correct alternation of colors on a (slightly wider) Raumschach board. The initial setup and co-ordinate system match the game information page.

Using the Customize button, before sending an invitation, allows you to choose between Colors: 88AA88 FFFFDD (my colors for Raumschach Revised) and Colors: FFFFDD FF8000 (Matthew's orange). You can even bump the scale up from 65 percent to 75 percent, but that makes the board slightly wider than my 1280 x 1024 display. EDIT: Light/Dark squares also depend on your choice of Board: 10.01. or 01.10. My color scheme was originally chosen to go with Roberto Lavieri's elegant 'Galactic Graphics' pieces, in Midgard Chess. I may be using them in a 3D Chess variant someday.

I must confess that I have not paid much attention to PBM optional features, but I believe that the player receiving a move also has full 'Customize' options. Looks like the onlookers are stuck with the options chosen by the two players, though.

Matthew, thanks for getting me involved in 3D Chess presets - I have a lot of unfinished business from last year. I have already emailed an editor, changes should be forthcoming.

The 5x5x5 board is treated by the old preset as a 5x29 board, with four files 'painted white'. My new 5x5x5 preset has a 5x33 board, with double-width files 'painted white'. In all cases the square colors were locked into the 5xSomething grid. My 6x6x6 game turned out to be easier to set up.

My Raumschach Revised preset has the correct alternation of colors on a (slightly wider) Raumschach board. I think I also managed to set up all the pieces correctly.

Please use my Person Information page to send me an email, if you find any mistakes. Later this month, I will try to get an editor to add a link on the game information page.

EDIT: Gave the new board the same green/yellow squares as Midgard Chess and increased the font size to 14. Got to thinking about an old 6x6x6 variant of mine and decided to post a (temporary) preset: link here. I don't know when I am going to find the time to playtest any 3D variants, but these two presets are not limited to their specific games - anyone can hit the [Edit] button on any preset to generate something new - you just have to rename and save your new preset.

Check out Emperor Raumschach.

It is a variant of mine which attempts to answer several of the obstacles of Raumschach.

The Emperor piece guarantees a checkmate position. While the Herald(Unicorn+Knight or Unicorn+Hippogriff or Unicorn+Wyvern) frees up the simple Unicorn from its triagonal pattern.

There's a Zillions implementation for those who wish to evaluate it themselves.

Regarding Charles Gilman's [2003-05-25] comment, Jim Aikin called the (Bishop + Unicorn) piece a Wizard in his 2001 variant Five Up.

I consider the (Ferz + Unicorn) piece to be another interesting idea. First reference I can find to this piece: November 4, 2001, david moeser made posts #976 and #977 in Yahoo chessvariants, suggesting the Unicorn in Raumschach be replaced by a Ferzicorn.

Further to my previous comments, I have devised two variants compensating
for Knights and Pawns being overstrengthened relative to Rooks and
Bishops, and eliminating square-colour imbalances.
	Millstone uses a wraparound board, inspired by an add-on to Jim Aikin's
Five Up (under F, not 5, in the 3-d index) but even more effective alone.
Horizontal blocking of Rooks would be reduced and unblocked Bishops and
Unicorns would always have access to 24 and 16 other squares respectively.
To prove the end of colourbinding, a Bishop or Unicorn could reach an
orthogonally adjacent square in two moves - one two cells forward and one
two cells back, but the same way sideways.
	Haremschach arises from observing that the Raumschach King and Queen can
move triagonally - an Emperor and Empress in my terminology - and there is
no combination of two plain linepieces. There could be a version in which
all linepieces are combined - two Queens in the 2d sense (Rook+Bishop),
two Duchesses (Rook+Unicorn), and two Governors (Bishop+Unicorn). Pieces
with a Rook move are clearly not colourbound but nor are Governors:
consider a Unicorn move one step forward followed by a Bishop move one
step back!