The board should be set up so that each player has a white square in the bottom-right corner. The pieces are arranged as follows: the first row (from left to right) consists of a rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, and rook. The second row is filled with pawns.

Pawns move forward one square, but on their first move, they have the option to move forward two squares. They capture diagonally forward, one square at a time.

Unlike other pieces, the knight moves in an L-shape - two squares in one direction and then one square perpendicular, or one square in one direction and then two squares perpendicular. In 3D Hartwig Chess, it can also move vertically between levels.

The queen is the most powerful piece on the board, capable of moving any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. This makes her very versatile and often a key piece in checkmating the opponent's king.

Checkmate occurs when the opponent's king is under attack (in check) and there is no legal move to escape the threat. To achieve checkmate, you need to position your pieces so that the king cannot move to a safe square, cannot block the check with another piece, nor can capture the threatening piece.

In 3D Hartwig Chess, castling involves moving the king two squares towards a rook, and then placing the rook on the other side of the king. However, this can be more complex due to the additional vertical dimension, ensuring no pieces are between the king and the rook and that the squares the king travels over are not under attack.

A stalemate occurs when a player has no legal moves to make but is not in check. In 3D Hartwig Chess, as in standard chess, a stalemate results in a draw, meaning neither player wins.

In 3D Hartwig Chess, the bishop still moves diagonally any number of squares, but now it can also move vertically between levels. This adds a new layer of strategy as bishops can control multiple levels of the board.