Three-player chess

How three-player chess works

Everyone plays against everyone on a board of 96 fields. White, Red and Black move in turn.

The board

Each player owns a third of 8 × 4 fields. The files are straight lines of eight fields between two players: a–d join White and Black, e–h White and Red, i–l Black and Red. Six fields meet in the centre.

How the pieces move

Inside a third everything moves as in ordinary chess. A rook goes along the lines, which may bend where two thirds meet. A bishop keeps its colour and may choose between two diagonals at the centre. The queen moves like both. The king steps to a neighbouring field, but at the centre not straight across to the field of the other colour. A knight goes one step and two after turning, or the other way round, so near the centre it may have more than eight targets. Tap a piece to see where it can go.

Pawns

A pawn always moves away from its own edge: towards the centre, then on along its file through another third. It captures diagonally forward (at the centre it has a choice), may double-step from its start rank and promotes on an opponent’s back rank. Only the next player can capture en passant, and only right away.

Check and mate

You must not leave your king attacked by either opponent. A player to move with no legal move who is in check is mated, and the opponent who could take the king wins (if both could, the one who moves first after the mated player). If a move leaves someone’s king open to capture by the player who moves next, that player wins at once. No legal move without check is a draw.

Points and playing on

The winner gets 1 point, the mated player 0 and the third ½. After the first mate you choose: end the game, or play on without the mated player, whose king leaves the board and whose pieces stay as obstacles or go to one of the other two (pawns keep their direction, shown by a badge on every pawn). The next mate ends the game; points go by the order of elimination.

Draws

Stalemate, the same position three times, fifty rounds without a capture or a pawn move, and kings alone are draws.

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