Coalition Chess

Arnold Schönberg Estate.

Arnold Schönberg developed his Coalition Chess in the first half of the 1920s.

Arnold Schönberg developed his Coalition Chess in the first half of the 1920s. The set of rules exist as a draft with levels of power that are subtly differentiated yet still balanced and with extremely unconventional and original elements. Schönberg’s chess variant is an expansion of the traditional game.

There are four players, two greater powers (Yellow, Black) and two lesser powers (Green, Red) who can form coalitions during the first three rounds. Instead of the six different pieces in the traditional game of chess, Coalition Chess has pieces with nine different types of move. Their range of moves is either taken from traditional chess or, in the case of the three new pieces, two pieces from traditional chess are merged to form one new piece. Schönberg’s pieces remain figurative, they symbolize possibly the original motif of the army in modern form.

The pieces, their names and their distribution correspond to Schönberg’s experiences with the war machinery of the First World War. Red symbolizes the air force (Planes), Green the navy (Submarines), the greater powers Yellow and Black are equipped with the military arsenal of the land forces. However, the version designed by Schönberg – and this is the game’s peculiarity – is not a war game. In this agonal fight, the players are involved in demanding diplomatic relations and negotiations between potential coalition partners.

The Arnold Schönberg Estate contains the records of Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951), a composer, painter, teacher, theoretician, and innovator who is ranked amongst the prominent artistic figures in the history of western culture. His writings, apart from his compositions, are valuable documents for the musical, intellectual, and cultural history of the first half of the 20th century, as well as for exile studies, and thus for contemporary history. They are evidence of the multifaceted interests of an eminent artistic personality, and also address questions of aesthetics, Jewish affairs, politics, and religion.