[Ads-l] X-dimensional chess

[Peter Reitan]

Surprisingly, references to three-dimensional chess, tri-dimensional chess, four-dimensional chess and multi-dimensional chess all predate Star Trek, in some cases by several decades, in literal and idiomatic senses.

In 1915, a British chess writer wrote a story about Caissa (the godess of chess) revealing a three-dimensional version of chess to him on a visitation on on Christmas Eve. British Chess Magazine, Volume 35, Number 420, December, 1915, page 43.

In 1926, students in the University of Rochester Chess Club launched a project to develop a new version of chess that would better reflect modern warfare, with pieces that moved (like airplanes) in three dimensions.
Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), March 26, 1926, page 23

In 1932, at a meeting of the Marshall Chess Club in Brooklyn, a speaker appearing in character as a Martian described chess masters on Mars who could "play four-dimensional chess without sight of the board, which is in the form of a tessera."
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 26, 1932, page 28.

On several occasions, beginning in the mid-1930s, Albert Einstein denied rumors that he spent his free time playing "three-dimensional chess." He claimed not to have any free time.

The idiomatic use of "x-dimensional chess" to describe a complex system with many variables appears to have been in use in military circles in WWII. At various times, air defenses, submarine hunting and manpower issues.

In 1939, a war correspondent in France described the scene in a war-room, the kind with a large map with pieces moved around to show the positions and circles and arrows showing movement, as "a sort of three-dimensional chess game with all the elements reduced to mathematical abstractions and therefore rendered comprehensible."
Chicago Tribune, November 16, 1939, page 8.

In 1942, a columnist described the difficulties of wartime manning of the military and war industries. "America's manpower problem is like the three-dimensional chess game invented by a couple of Oxford dons who thought ordinary kings and pawns too easy."
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 23, 1942, page 22 (Paul R. Leach in the Chicago Daily News).

In 1956, Rear Admiral Morison published a multi-volume history of US Naval Operations in WWII.  A reviewer noted, "Rear Admiral Morison brings into simple understanding the deadly three-dimensional chess game that ultimately killed off the U-boats and secured the lifeline of the Allies."
Grand Prairie Daily News (Texas), March 22, 1956, page 12.

Others used the expression idiomatically as well.

In 1952, a newspaper columnist mocked the new-age artists at an exhibition in Los Angeles. "They've taken to playing international tick-tack-toe and four dimensional chess!  Much better than knitting and tatting!  And so modern! And so safe from the big bad world! And the nice lady who was preaching the sermon on how blue goes back and red comes forward! She said to the people on camp stools, she said: 'Do you get an emotional or an intellectual reaction from it? Please raise your hands.'"
Los Angeles Times, July e20, 1952, Part IV (Drama-Arts), page 4.

In 1959, "Air traffic control has been compared to a fast three-dimensional chess game wherein the controller has to win every move."
The Burlington Free Press (Vermont), December 17, 1959, page 26.

And in 1965, just before Star Trek made it a thing, "To Hoffa, life is a multi-dimensional chess game, which he plays on many levels at once with gusto and self-confidence.  The problem is how to keep the opponent's capital pieces in jeopardy while persistently attacking his weaker fronts, a maneuver which requires a keen instinct for the realities of power."
Detroit Free Press, September 5, 1965, Detroit Magazine, page 14.

In 1971, during complicated trade negotiations between Britain and France:
"Butter is one of the pieces in the multidimensional chess game: it can be moved, or not moved, on the board not only for the purpose of completing the game or registering a stalemate but also to signal intentions or false intentions."
The Manchester Guardian, May 12, 1971, page 13.


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 6:59 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: X-dimensional chess

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      X-dimensional chess
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Creaky oldsters will recall the first time we saw Spock playing
three-dimensional chess on board the old Enterprise back in 19 and 66.

Recently a Trump supporter on TV explained that the president constantly
plays "four-dimensional chess."

Last night on CNN another one assured viewers that, while it may not seem
that he's doing anything about Russian bad behavior, he's  working hard
*behind* the scenes, in ways we can know nothing about. The explanation was
that, as a successful businessman, Mr. Trump plays "eight-dimensional
chess" his wonders to perform.

And in the words of a GB author,  "Not even Garry Kasparov could grasp the
basic principles of eight-dimensional chess."

Myself, I prefer extradimensional chess  (68 Google hits). It enables me to
work out most of my schemes in parallel dimensions until such time as I
care to reveal them in this existential sector.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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