Three-player chess Three-player chess Three-player chess (also known as Three-handed, Three-man, or Three-way chess) is a family of chess variants specially designed for three players. Many variations of three-player chess have been devised. They usually use a non-standard board, for example, a hexagonal or three-sided board that connects the center in a special way. The three armies are differentiated usually by color. Three-player chess variants (as well as other three-player games) are the hardest to design fairly, since the imbalance created when two players gang up against one is usually too great for the defending player to withstand. Some versions attempt to
Chess with different armies rook replacement to c1. This is so colorbound pieces don't change square color. Many pieces in the following armies are combination of standard chess pieces and 4 fairy pieces: "ferz", "alfil", "wazir" and "dabbaba" (see their movement diagrams above). The game can be played with standard chess pieces and the following move diagrams use standard pieces as well (except queens). In this army, rooks, knights, bishops, and queen are replaced by the following pieces: As mentioned, when using this army and castling queenside, the king moves "three" squares (from e1 to b1) and the bede moves from a1 to c1.