Space Chess!
- Jun 19
- 8 min read
Howdy! It’s the Chess Friends!
The importance of space is something that all chess players learn early on. How advancing pawns and pieces helps us grab more space on the chessboard, control more squares, and make attacks easier. But that’s not the kind of space we will be talking about in today’s blog.
Today, we will look at a different kind of space. The one that every child dreams about. The one where uncertainty lies, but exciting discoveries await, discoveries that could change how we perceive the world. We will be talking about….
***Outer space!!!***
What is the connection between outer space and chess? Well, besides the fact that there are more possible combinations of moves on the chessboard than there are atoms in the observable universe, in the vastness of space and stars and planets?
The connection is that cosmonauts and astronauts have played chess during their travels to space, outside of our blue planet!!! We feel so proud and humbled that our beloved game was celebrated by brave humans who ventured far beyond the possible!
What can we say… it’s just the best!
The Man Benji
Hi Friends! It’s the Man Benji! Today, I will cover real chess games that happened in space!
The very first chess game in space was played on June 9, 1970, during the Soyuz-9 mission, launched from Kazakhstan, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time. The Soyuz-9 flight lasted 17 days and 16 hours, and still holds the record as the longest continuous space flight in a single spacecraft performed by humans: cosmonauts Andrian Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanov!
The Soviet cosmonauts were very busy running tests and experiments during their record-breaking flight, but took a day off to play a legendary chess game, now known as the very first Space-vs-Earth chess match!
A lot of preparation had to be done for this flight, and for this one chess game. They didn’t want to use a magnetic travel chess set in fear of magnetic interference with the electronic devices on board, so a special chess set had to be designed so the pieces wouldn’t float away and get into a sleeping cosmonaut’s mouth, as the joke went!
As they orbited Earth, the cosmonauts played as White, against two opponents from the ground control, through radio.
The game started with 1. d4.
A small peshka’s move on the board was a huge leap for chess!
The ground control answered with 1. … d5, and the cosmonauts offered a Queen’s Gambit, 2. c4, which was accepted, 2. ... dxc4.
The idea in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted is that White loses a pawn and tries to get it back as soon as possible, meanwhile Black will fight in the center. The cosmonauts played a daring middlegame, with a big attack against the Black king but didn’t pursue some key opportunities to strike when the time was right.
After 6 hours, 35 moves, and 4 orbits around the Earth, the game ended in a draw. Here is the GIF of the game! It is out-of-this-world entertaining! Fun fact is that Cosmonaut Sevastyanov, after retiring from space explorations, served as the president of the Soviet Union Chess Federation, also becoming a FIDE international arbiter!
In 2020, to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the first chess game in space, another out-of-this-world chess game was organized. Cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, members of the 63rd International Space Station (ISS) crew, played a chess match while they were 420 km above the ground, against the Russian GM Sergey Karjakin on Earth, who at that time, was World Rapid and Blitz Chess Champion!
The cosmonauts, playing White, used an iPad, while GM Karjakin played on a regular board at the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics. The game started e4-e5 and proceeded as a Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation, where GM Karjakin was able to win a rook. Except, his queen got trapped, so the game converted to a classic “queen versus two rooks” situation, and the cosmonauts made a draw by repetition. A great result against a super GM! The game took only 16 minutes, and here is a GIF of how it went!
On the NASA side, it was American astronaut Dr. Gregory Chamitoff, who, in 2008, brought something special with him on the 6-month mission to the ISS as part of the 17th Expedition: a chessboard that he modified to hold the pieces with Velcro!
During his mission, he played several chess matches against different ground control centers around the world, like in Houston, Moscow, Japan and Germany!
Here is the GIF of one of the games, where Astronaut Gregory, playing as White, trapped ground control’s queen and eventually won the game! Score for space!
Later on his mission, Astronaut Gregory played another Space vs Earth match, challenging a school chess club, from Stevenson Elementary School in our own Bellevue, WA! The school club, coached by David Hendricks, had just won the K-3 National Elementary Chess Championship, and was selected to come up with three candidate moves for each turn as Black that were then voted by anyone on Earth! The game, which was followed on the USCF website, lasted several months with some adjournments, so Astronaut Gregory could finish his mission and return to Earth!
The game started as a London system, and Black, represented by the Earthlings, slowly gained the initiative, grabbing a few pawns, which, after 46 moves, was enough for the win!
Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff… what a hero, promoting our game beyond Earth’s atmosphere!
Watch him here, talking about chess from space!
There has been more chess in space! During the World Chess Championship in 2023 between GM Ding Liren and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, NASA organized a series of matches between the members of the 69th ISS crew and the mission control on Earth. Read about one of the games, where Astronauts Frank Rubio, Woody Hoburg, Sultan Alneyadi, and Steve Bowen won, here!
We hope that more chess games will be played in outer space and shared with us here on Earth! As Soyuz-9 cosmonauts in 1970 suggested… who knows… maybe one of the future matches will soon be played between different celestial bodies.
Earth to the Moon, it’s your turn!
The Myth Sarang
Hey Friends, it’s me, The Myth Sarang again! Have you ever wondered what happens when you add another dimension to chess? The result is 3D chess, a cool twist that transforms strategy into something even more complex and imaginative. Instead of playing on a single flat 8×8 board, which most of us are used to, 3D chess is played across multiple layers, creating a battlefield where pieces can move not only side to side and forward, but also up and down.
A 3D chess board usually looks like a regular chess set that has been stacked into layers or spread across multiple levels. Instead of one flat board, you might see several boards rising upward, often connected by supports, stairs, or bridge-like pieces, so the game has height as well as length and width. It was made famous through Star Trek, which my brother will talk about soon.`
In 3D chess, pieces don’t just move forward, backward, and sideways; they can also move up and down between layers. For example, a rook might control an entire vertical column, or bishops who can go through diagonal paths across multiple planes. For players used to standard chess, this can feel exciting or overwhelming.
A big challenge in 3D chess is visualization. In normal chess, players already need to think several moves ahead. In 3D chess, this skill becomes even more important. You have to track threats coming from above and below planes, not just across the board. It kind of feels like you’re playing three connected chess games at once. You might guess, correctly, that pieces on the middle board are particularly powerful, as they can effectively target multiple boards at the same time!
3D chess is also known for its creativity. Because the game is less regulated than normal chess, players often experiment with new ideas and strategies. It has even appeared in science fiction, especially Star Trek, where it represents advanced thinking and futuristic intelligence.
For you fellow Chess Friends and other chess enthusiasts, exploring 3D chess is a fun challenge. Even if you don’t play it often, just trying it out can improve your visualization skills and deepen your understanding of chess. In the end, 3D chess shows that even over a thousand-year-old games can still evolve in surprising ways – in this case, by expanding to entirely new dimensions. If you want to learn how to play Star Trek Tri-D chess, check out this YouTube video.
Turning it over to my bro Vivi for more!
The Legend Vivaan
Hey Friends! It’s the Legend Vivaan! In Star Trek, Kirk and Spock often played Tri-D chess. Spock said, “the principles are basically math.” Troi said, “It’s a game of intuition, not just ploys and gambits.” It’s played on levels adding dimensional complexity relative to the classical game as my bro talked about.
For those unfamiliar with Star Trek lore, Captain Kirk is human and wildly unpredictable, and Spock is half human and half Vulcan, a species driven by logic, hyper-rationality, and lack of emotion. When Kirk wins, it highlights the power of creativity and unpredictability, a common theme in the series. Of course, Spock’s brilliance and hyper-rational superpowers are super helpful too in many ways, including chess! You might recall our blog Chess: Art, Science, or Sport? where Sarang talks about Chess as a Science, much like Spock, and I talk about Chess as an Art, much like Kirk. Both are valuable and needed for mastery, and critical for success in any Sport, like Benji talks about.
In Star Wars, there’s a chess variant called Dejarik aka holographic chess. The goal is to eliminate all the opponent pieces and the player who has the last remaining piece wins. The hero and future Jedi Luke and smuggler turned rebel hero Han played, but maybe the most famous game was Chewbacca vs R2-D2 on the "fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy" Millenium Falcon with C-3PO’s famous line (after Han told him Wookie’s pull-out arms when they lose): “I suggest a new strategy R2. Let the Wookie win!”
Chewbacca is Han's best bud and a giant, super strong Wookie. R2-D2 and C-3PO are best friend droids who serve the rebel alliance. The board is concentric circles on a cylindrical base, with three orbits and alternating black and white spaces. There are creatures that serve as pieces with attack, health, range, and movement ratings and some special powers. Creatures can move in orbits or rays, and if two get to the same space, they fight, literally.
Maybe the most famous example of classical chess in space is from the1968 Stanley Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Stanley was a big chess fan! Check out 2001 Space Odyssey Chess Game: Interactive Replay & Analysis for a full recap.
Astronaut Frank Poole has the White pieces and Supercomputer HAL 9000 has the Black pieces. There were a few errors around rank and moves to mate in the movie, but it happens. Here’s the position with Black to move and mate in 1. Can you find it?
Nh3#
It’s fun mating with knights!
Whether you’re going to “a galaxy far, far away,” staying at home watching some great sci-fi films, or playing chess, “may the force be with you,” and may you “live long and prosper”!
We hope you had a stellar time reading about chess in space!
Do you know what really makes our day, besides the rotation of the Earth? Out-of-this-world knee-slappers!
Why is playing chess in space so relaxing?
Because there is no pressure there!
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Why hasn't there been a chess tournament in space yet?
Because nobody can planet!
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What is the best place to play the Cow opening?
The Moooooooon!
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Why did the astronauts take a bye for the second round?
Because it was their launch time!
***
Why didn't the alien laugh at our knee-slappers?
He was too Sirius!
Three Cheers, Fellow Future Master Chess Friends!
The Man Benji, The Myth Sarang, The Legend Vivaan
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