Modern Living: Chess for Three

As if chess were not complicated enough in its classic format, innovators have over the years developed variations that make the game even more complex. In one version called Capablanca Concentric Chess, the pieces move in spiraling arcs around a circular board. A number of three-dimensional chess games have also made their appearance, including one invented by Russian-born Mathematician Ervand G. Kogbetliantz that was so bewildering that it never really caught on; it is played on an eight-tiered board with 64 pieces to a side. Now, working independently, two other buffs have...