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 castling, a pawn's initial two-step option, "en passant", and promotion. The first player to checkmate an opponent wins the game. A player who is stalemated loses his turns to move, unless/until an opponent plays a move that releases the stalemate condition. While stalemated, his king is still subject to checkmate, and his other pieces are still subject to capture. Bibliography 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.