Four-player chess for themselves. As with regular chess, four-player chess begins with fortifications and the of pieces, but opportunities for capturing pieces (and gaining points) come about at large as each of the three opponents likewise do attacks and make threats of capture. Therefore picking friends and enemies has a political quality; ultimately the impromptu teammates will have to combat each other as only one can win. The Cox-Forbes theory of the origin of chess, though debunked, asserts that a four-player version was the earliest form of the game. A description of a four-player chess game is found in an Indian text
Three-Man Chess Three-Man Chess Three-Man Chess is a chess variant for three players invented by George R. Dekle, Sr. in 1984. The game is played on a hexagonal board comprising 96 quadrilateral cells. Each player controls a standard army of chess pieces. Three-Man Chess was included in "World Game Review" No. 10 edited by Michael Keller. The illustration shows the starting setup; each player's queen is placed to the left of his king. White moves first and play proceeds clockwise around the board. Pieces move the same as they do in chess, with some special features described below. Standard conventions apply including