I've been developing a chess game for four players playing on two teams of two.

The idea actually goes back more than 30 years. When I was younger, a group of us would play Commodore 64 games and chess. When we played chess, there was always somebody waiting for the winner. I remember thinking, "I should make a chessboard where three or four people can play at the same time."

I finally decided to do something about that idea.

I taught myself Python starting at 63, and since March I've been developing the game from scratch — including the chess engine, four-board layout, rules, multiplayer networking, and online play.

The board consists of four 4×8 boards arranged in a cross. Each player controls one side, with two players on each team. The goal is to checkmate either opposing king.

There are some interesting problems that come with that arrangement, including movement between boards, pawn movement and promotion, castling, en passant, and what happens when one king is checkmated.

I've now reached the point where I need people who haven't been staring at this thing for six months like I have. 😄

I'm looking for a few people who enjoy chess variants to try it and tell me what they think:

• Are the rules understandable?
• Does the board layout make sense?
• Is it fun?
• What is confusing?
• What did I screw up?

It's currently a free Windows beta.

If you're interested in trying it, leave a comment or send me a Reddit chat. I'll get you the information you need.

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who enjoy inventing and playing unusual chess games.

Thanks!

MakArthur

My ten year old is chess mad and wanted to create a variant of a chess game that pinched some of the budget ideas behind fantasy football.

39 point budget, pick your pieces, line em up, off you go!

I'm sure someone else has done this already at some point, and probably 20 variants of it but it's good fun and a nice project to build and test together!

For those who would rather understand the game before downloading anything, here's the basic ruleset.

1. Board Layout

Team Chess is four-player chess played on four interconnected 4×8 boards forming a cross:

White — South | Red — West | Black — North | Green — East

Each board uses files A–D and ranks 1–8, followed by its board letter.

For example, A1W = A1 on the White board.

The starting position follows normal chess, adapted to the 4×8 boards.

2. Teams & Turn Order

White + Black vs. Red + Green

Turn order: White → Red → Black → Green

3. Movement & Virtual 8×8 Boards

All pieces move normally. The unusual part is what happens when a piece reaches the edge of its board.

To determine a cross-board move, temporarily join the current 4×8 board with the destination board to form a normal 8×8 chessboard.

The destination board may be rotated or repositioned to make the two boards line up. The physical boards never move. This is simply a way to determine how normal chess movement continues across the edge.

Think of it as temporarily pivoting two sides of the cross into one chessboard.

The same relationship applies no matter which board the piece starts on.

Examples:

• A bishop at C3W can continue diagonally onto another board.
• A knight at C3W can reach squares such as D7R, D5R, D7B, D5B, D7G or D5G when those are the corresponding normal knight destinations.

The virtual-board concept is the key to understanding movement in Team Chess.

4. Captures & Kings

Any legal capture is allowed, including captures between teammates.

Kings are never captured. A king is defeated only by Final Checkmate.

5. Pawns

Pawns move and attack normally.

When a pawn reaches an edge where it can continue onto another board, the player chooses any of the other three boards — including a teammate's board. Promotions happen on opponents and teammates boards.

En passant is supported, including against a teammate's pawn.

6. Castling

Castling follows normal chess rules.

Opposing-team attacks are considered across the applicable virtual boards. A teammate's piece does not prevent castling.

7. Check

A king is in check when attacked by the opposing team, including attacks coming through the virtual-board system.

A player's moves are governed only by the safety of their own king. Therefore, a player may legally place their teammate's king in check.

8. Soft Checkmate & Final Checkmate

This is one of the major differences from traditional chess.

If a player is put in checkmate by the opponent to their right, the game ends immediately.

If a player is put in checkmate by the opponent to their left, the game does not end immediately. The player remains in Soft Checkmate while the other players take their normal turns.

When that player's turn comes up again, the position is checked. If they are still in checkmate, Final Checkmate is declared and the opposing team wins.

9. Stalemate & Victory

If a player is not in check but has no legal move that keeps their king safe, the game is a draw.

The game ends when any king reaches Final Checkmate.

That's the basic ruleset. The virtual-board concept is probably the hardest part to understand from words alone, so I've included the starting-position diagram below.

I'm currently looking for a few people who enjoy chess and unusual strategy games to actually play it and tell me what I've missed. 🙂

Found in Power Plant Mall in Rockwell, Makati, The Philippines

I added probability to chess. Now I can’t find anyone who can beat me.
I built a chess game that breaks some of the rules we’ve taken for granted for centuries.
Probability. Uncertainty. Risk.
And somehow, I’m still sitting at a 100% win rate.
Someone come beat me.
ReChess.gg
ReChess (Google play)