Eight-player chess

Rules: Free for all

Eight armies on a board of 516 squares, everyone for themselves. Points decide the places.

Board and turns

The board is 24 by 24 squares without its corners and a notch in the middle of every side: 516 squares, two armies on every side. White moves first, then Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Green and Black, clockwise. Pieces move as in ordinary chess.

Points

Capturing a pawn scores 1, a knight 2, a bishop 5, a rook 7, a queen 10 and a king 25; a promoted piece is worth its new piece. Checkmating a player scores 25.

Out of the game

A checkmated, stalemated or resigning player is out. Their pieces turn grey and stay on the board as obstacles that anyone may capture for nothing. A player who stalemates themselves gets 25 points; when someone else’s move stalemates a player, everyone else still playing shares points (3 each with seven left, up to 25 for the last one). A resigning player’s 25 points go to whoever took the most from them.

Check and mate

A player is checkmated only when their turn comes, so the players before them may still save them, or steal the mate: whoever moves later and takes over a square the king could have escaped to gets the 25 points. If a king can be captured on someone else’s turn, that player may take it for 25.

Pawns and castling

Pawns move away from their own side, may step twice from their start and promote on their 11th rank, the last before the middle. There is no en passant. Castling works as usual, on both sides of the king.

The end

The game ends when seven players are out, or when one of the last two leads by 26 points or more and nobody is ahead (the other then gets 25). The same position three times, fifty rounds without a capture or a pawn move, and kings only are draws: everyone still playing gets 25. Once no person at the board is still playing, you can let the bots finish or end the game.

Where it comes from

Eight-player chess on square tiles was devised on chess.com in 2021 by HighEldar, building on four-player chess; Luke Romanko had drawn a board of his own three years before. The two dedicated every eight-player chess on square tiles to the public domain. These are the rules of HighEldar’s standard version; the app is not connected with its authors.

Rules: Pairs

Eight armies on a board of 516 squares in four pairs: the two players sitting opposite each other play together, and the points of both decide the pair’s place.

Board and turns

The board is 24 by 24 squares without its corners and a notch in the middle of every side: 516 squares, two armies on every side. White moves first, then Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Green and Black, clockwise. Pieces move as in ordinary chess.

Your partner

Your partner sits opposite you: White plays with Purple, Red with Orange, Blue with Green and Yellow with Black. You cannot capture your partner’s pieces, and they never attack your king. Partners do not move one after the other: three players move in between. A bot plays your partner unless a person at this device does.

Points for the pair

Points work as in free for all and count for the pair: capturing a pawn scores 1, a knight 2, a bishop 5, a rook 7, a queen 10 and a king 25; a promoted piece is worth its new piece. Checkmating a player scores 25. Every bar shows the points of its pair.

Out of the game

A checkmated, stalemated or resigning player is out: their pieces turn grey and stay on the board as obstacles that anyone may capture for nothing. Your partner going out does not put you out, and a pair is out once both partners are. A player who stalemates themselves, or whom their partner stalemates, earns 25 for the pair. When an opponent stalemates a player, that pair gets nothing and the opponents still playing share points (4 each when there are six of them, up to 25 for the last one). A resigning player’s 25 points go to the pair that took the most from them (12 or 8 each when pairs tie).

Check and mate

A player is checkmated only when their turn comes, so the players before them may still save them, or an opponent may steal the mate: whoever moves later and takes over a square the king could have escaped to gets the 25 points. If a king can be captured on someone else’s turn, that player may take it for 25.

Pawns and castling

Pawns move away from their own side, may step twice from their start and promote on their 11th rank, the last before the middle. There is no en passant. Castling works as usual, on both sides of the king.

The end

The game ends when only one pair has a player left, or when two pairs are left and one leads the other by 26 points or more with no pair ahead of it (the other pair then gets 25). The same position three times, fifty rounds without a capture or a pawn move, and kings only are draws: every player still playing gets 25 for the pair. Once no person at the board is still playing, you can let the bots finish or end the game.

Where it comes from

Eight-player chess on square tiles was devised on chess.com in 2021 by HighEldar, building on four-player chess; Luke Romanko had drawn a board of his own three years before. The two dedicated every eight-player chess on square tiles to the public domain. HighEldar’s standard version describes pairs as free for all with the differences above; it does not say how a game in pairs ends, so the app ends it as free for all does. The app is not connected with its authors.

Rules: Teams

Eight armies on a board of 516 squares, four against four: White, Blue, Purple and Green against Red, Yellow, Orange and Black.

Board and turns

The board is 24 by 24 squares without its corners and a notch in the middle of every side: 516 squares, two armies on every side. White moves first, then Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Orange, Green and Black, clockwise. Pieces move as in ordinary chess. So the two teams take turns.

Partners

Your partners are every second player in turn order. You cannot capture their pieces, and they never attack your king. Bots play them unless people at this device do.

Check and mate

A player is checkmated or stalemated only when their turn comes, so the others may still block a check or capture the attacker. A checkmated player is out: their pieces turn grey and the game goes on. If a king can be captured on someone else’s turn, that player may take it.

Pawns and castling

Pawns move away from their own side, may step twice from their start and promote on their 11th rank, the last before the middle. There is no en passant. Castling works as usual, on both sides of the king.

Winning and draws

The first team to put three opponents out wins, by checkmate, by capturing a king or by resignation. Two stalemated players of one team make a draw, and so do the same position three times, fifty rounds without a capture or a pawn move, and kings only.

Where it comes from

Eight-player chess on square tiles was devised on chess.com in 2021 by HighEldar, building on four-player chess; Luke Romanko had drawn a board of his own three years before. The two dedicated every eight-player chess on square tiles to the public domain. These are the rules of HighEldar’s standard version; the app is not connected with its authors.

More games

Chess and variants

• Chess · Classic chess or Chess960 with a shuffled back rank, against a bot.
• Chess960 · Fischer random chess: the back rank starts in one of 960 setups.
• Antichess · Losing chess: give away all your pieces, captures are compulsory.
• Atomic chess · Every capture is an explosion that clears the pieces around it.
• Crazyhouse · Captured pieces change sides and can be dropped back onto the board.
• Duck chess · After every move you move the duck, which blocks everyone. No check.
• Fog of War · You only see where your pieces can move. Capture the king to win.
• Friendly Chess · Nothing is captured: pieces unite and set off chain reactions.

The chess family

• Chaturanga · India’s ancient chess, the root of the family: take the king to win.
• Shatranj · The medieval ancestor of chess, with a weak ferz and a jumping alfil.
• Makruk · Thai chess: a slow, strategic game with a counting rule.
• Ouk Chatrang · Cambodian chess: Makruk with a leap for the king and the met.
• Sittuyin · Burmese chess: set up your pieces, then promote on the diagonals.
• Xiangqi · Chinese chess: a river, palaces and a cannon that jumps to capture.
• Janggi · Korean chess: no river, palace diagonals and a cannon that always jumps.
• Shogi · Japanese chess: captured pieces return to the board on your side.
• Minishogi · Shogi on a 5 × 5 board: six pieces a side, short and sharp games.

More players

• Chaturaji · India’s four-handed chess: kings can be captured, captures score.
• Four Seasons Chess · Alfonso X’s chess for four from 1283: four seasons, the last king wins.
• Three-player chess · Three armies on a hexagonal board: you against two bots.
• Four-player chess · Four armies on a cross-shaped board: in teams or all against all.