History

The Quadlevel version of 3D chess was invented by my father back around 1970, in response to the 3D craze started by a Star Trek episode (This does not resemble Star Trek chess - it has seven boards and some of them movable). I believe Quadlevel is the best version out there. I think you'll find that playing this game, since the concepts are the same, will help your 2D game. It's like picking up 3 bats and going to the plate with 1. A booklet written by Robert Koernke Sr. my father is still available at the Ann Arbor University of Michigan Undergraduate Library entitled "The Complete Rules of Three Dimensional Chess" copyright 1970. The only major change in 30 years is the 'Standard' win version.  Originally you had to checkmate both Kings, which drags the game out too long.  My father and a man named Gerhard Fritsche(Gary) would go to what is called in Ann Arbor, MI the Diag, where the crossroads of the U of M students come together, and play the game in front of a crowd of 50 or so. Recently me and Gary did that again, with success. In front of about 8 people, I was losing and I had said I was going to resign. Then Gary made a crucial mistake and lined up his Kings on the 3rd and 4th levels. The top board was almost completely empty. I pushed the Rook down to the end and Double Checked him for the win!  Some of the earlier ideas we had for the name of the game were Bi-sovereign chess; Oligarchy Chess.  My father had never given it a distinct name other than 3D Chess.  We went with Quadlevel. Some of the same openings are possible, such as a Queens Gambit Accepted/Declined.