‖ kriegspiel
(ˈkriːgspiːl)
[Ger., = war-game.]
1. A game in which blocks representing parts of armies, guns, etc., are moved about on maps: see quot. 1811. Introduced into the English army after the Franco-German War of 1870.
| [1811 Q. Rev. May 403 In Switzerland a game has lately been made of war (Das Kriegspiel), which is played with figures upon a map, and recommended as exceedingly instructive to military students, because the principles upon which it is constructed are applicable to real operations in the field.] 1878 Besant & Rice By Celia's Arbour xxxiii. (1887) 248 They tell me that the officer of to-day is scientific and plays Kriegspiel. 1887 Athenæum 12 Mar. 344/3 As in a game of ‘kriegspiel’, the onlooker will often find himself wondering what on earth was the object of this or that move. |
2. A form of chess invented about 1900 by M. H. Temple. Two players at separate boards play without seeing or being told each other's moves, though they may ask some strictly limited questions of an umpire who conducts the game at a third board.
| 1903 Brit. Chess Mag. Sept. 370 Kriegsspiel..may have merits, but it is not a war game. 1906 H. Cayley in Chess Amat. Nov. 46 (heading) Kriegspiel or the Chess War Game. 1922 Brit. Chess Mag. Oct. 375 As a chess⁓player he..preferred Kriegspiel, at which he was always the life and soul of the table. 1961 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Dec. 870/5 Kriegspiel itself together with further variations. 1969 A. Glyn Dragon Variation viii. 237 There'd be simuls, rapid-transit, five-minute chess, kriegspiels, lectures in the evenings. |
So ˈkriegspieler, ˈkriegsspieler, one who plays kriegspiel.
| 1891 19th Cent. Feb. 299 Keen Volunteers..are enthusiastic Kriegsspielers. 1916 Brit. Chess Mag. Chess Ann. 1915 58 The chartered libertine among P.E.'s, kriegspielers, and chess-players in general. |