Four-player chess written c. 1500. The "Tithitattva" of Raghunandana describes such a version, which continued to be played into the 20th century. The first documented example of a modern four-player chess system was written by Captain George Hope Verney in England in 1881. The most common form of play is two vs. two in which allied pieces cannot eliminate each other, but help the others in defense and offense. The allied players sit across from each other and help checkmate the people to the left and right of them. The game is over when both opposing kings are checkmated. If only one
Hostage Chess It was published in magazines "Nost-algia" (issue 375), "Eteroscacco" (86–88), and "Variant Chess" (32 and later). It was the "Recognized Variant of the Month" in January 2005 at "The Chess Variant Pages". The inventor, John Leslie, is also a philosopher. He mentions in his book "Infinite Minds" that the prevalence of chess variant inventions such as Hostage Chess has led to speculation that there could be infinite possible variations of chess. He contends these will necessarily exceed the capacity of the human mind. Hostage Chess follows all the standard rules of chess excepting how captured men are treated. Each player