The World
Tri Dimensional
Chess Federation

A history of the World Tri Dimensional Chess Federation

The World Tri Dimensional Chess Federation was founded in 1996 in an attempt to standardise the rules governing playing the game.

The initial starting positions of the pieces, a clear illustration of the board and some simple rules were originally described by Franz Joseph Schnaubelt, an aerospace design engineer, in 1975. However, the simplicity of the rule set failed to cover many possible situations and was considered unplayable.

Encouraged by Schnaubelt, Andrew Bartmess, an enthusiast, adapted these rules in 1976 to create the Federation Standard rules, which used the same board and starting positions and were widely adopted.

In 1992, Flying Officer John Hawkins, devised an entirely new set of rules designed to be as intuitive as possible for a classical chess player but embrace as many philosophies and techniques of actual aerial combat as were practical.

Jens Meder created a highly popular set of tournament rules in 1995, which have been widely adopted across the world.

Though there have been revisions, the Hawkins rules were adopted by the RAF in 1994 and are taught in various jet training programs, the British Army’s Apache Helicopter training syllabus and although not official adopted, are the preferred rules on the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program.

The modern day Hawkins rules were selected as the official laws of the World Tri Dimensional Chess Federation and although somewhat removed from the much earlier origins of the game, they better represent a game tested by classical players for centuries and a mindset born out of actual combat in a three dimensional space.

The World Tri Dimensional Chess Federation now has thousands of members world wide and is still growing.

If you would like to join, just fill in this form. It's currently free.