Fools & Hippogriffs

In Manhattan, Dr. Ervand George Kogbetliantz, 63, a mathematics professor, announced plans for a course at the New School for Social Research. The subject: three-dimensional chess. The game is played on eight glass boards arranged in stories (see NEWS IN PICTURES) ; the chess pieces move through 512 cubes. To retain the mathematical opportunity for a checkmate provided by the 64 squares in ordinary chess, Kogbetliantz has added new pieces. The resulting line-up on each side: a king, a queen, two "archbishops" and 40 pawns, which may move through three dimensions; four rooks, two knights, four bishops and two "favorites" (like queens), which move only horizontally; four "hippogriffs" (like knights) and four "fools" (like bishops), which must move from story to story.

"Man lives in a three-dimensional world with a two-dimensional mind," says the professor. "In war, for example, besides the horizontal battles of tanks and men, you have airplanes, parachutists and submarines. Men who train to be officers should play my game." Kogbetliantz perfected three-dimensional chess in 1918, when he was teaching in Moscow. He thinks the game is flourishing in Russia.

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