Four-player chess

Rules: Teams

Four armies play on a cross-shaped board: Red and Yellow against Blue and Green. Partners sit opposite each other.

Board and turns

The board is 14 by 14 squares without its four corners. Red moves first, then Blue, Yellow and Green, clockwise. Pieces move as in ordinary chess. So the two teams take turns.

Partners

You cannot capture your partner’s pieces, and they never attack your king. A bot plays your partner unless a person at this device does.

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. 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 and promote on their 11th rank, three ranks past the middle. There is no en passant. Castling works as usual, on both sides of the king.

Winning and draws

The first team to checkmate an opponent, or to capture an opposing king, wins. A stalemate, the same position three times, fifty moves of every player without a capture or a pawn move, and kings only are draws.

Rules: Free for all

Four armies on a cross-shaped board, everyone for themselves. Points decide the places.

Board and turns

The board is 14 by 14 squares without its four corners. Red moves first, then Blue, Yellow and Green, clockwise. Pieces move as in ordinary chess.

Points

Capturing a pawn or a promoted piece scores 1, a knight 3, a bishop or a rook 5, a queen 9 and a king 20. Checkmating a player scores 20. Checking two kings at once scores 1 with the queen and 5 otherwise, three kings 5 or 20. A stalemated player gets 20.

Out of the game

A checkmated or stalemated player is out. Their pieces turn grey and stay on the board as obstacles that anyone may capture for nothing. A player who resigns is out too, but their king walks on by itself until it is checkmated.

Check and mate

A player is checkmated only when their turn comes, so the others may still save them. The points go to the attacker who moved last. If a king can be captured on someone else’s turn, that player may take it for 20 points.

Pawns and castling

Pawns move away from their own side and promote on their 8th rank, the far edge of the middle. There is no en passant. Castling works as usual.

The end

The game ends when three players are out (the last one gets 20 for every king still walking), or when one of the last two leads by more than 20 and nobody is ahead. The same position three times, fifty moves of every player without a capture or a pawn move, and kings only are draws: everyone still playing gets 10. Once no person at the board is still playing, you can let the bots finish or end the game.

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.
• Eight-player chess · Eight armies on a board of 516 squares: all against all, in pairs or four against four.