CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Ferdinand Maack

German chess variant inventor (1861–1930)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ97823 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ferdinand Maack (1861–1930) was a German doctor, inventor and occultist. He invented Raumschach, the classic 3D chess game, first described by him in the Frankfurter Zeitung in 1907. He promoted the game with demonstrations, articles, specialist magazines and several books. He founded the Hamburg Raumschach Club in 1919, which remained active until World War II.

Writings

Die Weisheit von der Welt-Kraft. Eine Dynamosophie. Mit einem Vorwort über die Röntgen-Strahlen. Otto Weber, Leipzig 1897

Polarchemiatrie. Ein Beitrag zur Einigung alter und neuer Heilkunst. Altmann, Leipzig 1905

Die goldene Kette Homers. Lorch 1905; Graz 2005

Das Schachraumspiel.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ferdinand Maack” is german chess variant inventor (1861–1930). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ferdinand, Maack and German, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1861, 1930, 1907, 1919—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1861-01-01. For this dossier, Ferdinand, Maack and German is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “german chess variant inventor (1861–1930)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q97823. VIAF identifies the subject as 22898352. The Library of Congress control number is no98111310. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1861, 1930, 1907 and 1919.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ferdinand Maack”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ferdinand Maack primary sources, Ferdinand Maack archive and Ferdinand research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ferdinand Maack”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ferdinand Maack” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.