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File:Spock McCoy 3D chess.jpg

Spock, McCoy, and 3D chess

Malcolm and Travis play chess

Travis Mayweather and Malcolm Reed play chess

Chess, globe-memory test

Spherical chess during Spock's memory test

Chess is a board game played by two opponents, one controlling white pieces and the other controlling black.

In 2154, Ensign Travis Mayweather and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed played chess while inhabited by Organians. Lieutenant Reed told Ensign Mayweather that he was the best player of chess aboard the NX class starship Enterprise. (ENT: "Observer Effect")

Whether or not this indicates an Organian partiality to the game remains unknown.

By 2264, a three-dimensional variant had been devised and was available to the crew of the Template:ShipClass USS Enterprise. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "Charlie X", "Court Martial", "By Any Other Name", "Whom Gods Destroy")

Another variation of chess was used in Spock's memory test, which featured the game on a spherical grid. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

When the computer of the USS Enterprise-D was affected by nanites, it responded to an inquiry with "Pawn to King Three, Knight to Rook Four, Queen to Bishop Three". (TNG: "Evolution")

Note that this chess nomenclature (English Descriptive Notation) is uncommon in the 21st century, it being much more common to use algebraic notation to describe chess games. As for the moves themselves, the description could be claimed to show evidence of the hypermodern chess school surviving into at least the 24th century.

According to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, dealing with the Romulans was "always like a chess game". (TNG: "The Defector")

On stardate 44390.1, two chess tournaments took place aboard the USS Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Data's Day")

One of the false memories planted into Geordi La Forge's brain after being brainwashed by the Romulans was of making second place in a chess tournament on Risa. (TNG: "The Mind's Eye")

Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax played a game of chess in early 2371. (DS9: "Equilibrium")

When Harry Kim referred to Kal-toh as "Vulcan chess", Tuvok commented that "Kal-toh is to chess as chess is to tic-tac-toe". (VOY: "Alter Ego")

In 2375, Lieutenant Commander Data told the Ba'ku resident Artim that his chess routines were quite advanced. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

Types

See also

Background Information

An unfilmed line from TNG: "Coming of Age" suggests that the Mordock Strategy was a strategy in Benzite Chess. The script of "Empok Nor" described the Cardassian game of Kotra as being "a cross between chess and Stratego".

Three chess sets "like the one featured in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Observer Effect"" were sold during the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on ebay, and two three-dimensional chess sets were sold in the Christie's 40 Years sale. [1]

External link

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