How to Play Three Player Chess

The ancient strategy game of chess dates back to 1,500 years ago with the two-player board game originated in northern India.  Also known as Three-handed, Three-man, or Three-way chess, Three-player chess adds twists to the popular game.

 

The Equipment

The game uses a hexagonal chessboard that has a playing field of 96 squares. The board is divided into three areas with 32 squares each. Each area is labeled with letters and numbers along the edge.

Three sets of 16 chess pieces (chessmen) are used. Each set is comprised of the traditional chess pieces - one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. 

Each player places their chess pieces on the side of the board  with letters on them. 

Setup

The board is arranged in eight rows and eight columns of hexagonal cells, with a black square on the lower left corner of each player’s side. Arrange the starting positions of the chessmen according to the illustration below.

 

Gameplay

The chess pieces move similarly to how they do in classic chess. Each player competes against the other two players at the start of the game and advance their pieces forward and toward either side of the board.

As with the classic chess game, the goal is still to capture an opponent’s king piece. The additional challenge is that each player must prepare for the moves of the two other opponents.

The game starts with red making the first move. Then, in a clockwise direction, it is followed by white and black.

A chess piece can only move in a path that is free from any other piece, except for the Knight, which can move over other chessmen. Same as the classic two-player chess game, when your chess piece falls on another player’s occupied square, you capture that opponent’s piece.

King: 

The king is the most important piece in the game and also the weakest. The king can move in any direction but only one space at a time. A player loses the game if their king is captured.

Queen: 

Queens are the most powerful pieces and can move in any direction, any number of squares.

Rook:

Rooks can move horizontally or vertically any number of squares.

Bishop:

Bishops can move diagonally any number of squares.

Knight:

Knights move in an “L” shape, either two squares horizontally and one square vertically,  or two squares vertically and one square horizontally. Knights are the only pieces that can pass over other pieces that are in their movement path.

Pawn:

Pawns can only move forward, unlike other pieces. Normally it moves only one square at a time except on its first move where it has the option to move up to two squares. Pawns cannot capture other pieces in front of them. However, if there is a piece one square diagonally forward of them, it can move in that direction to capture it. If a pawn manages to reach the other end of the board, it is promoted to a queen. 

Rule Variations

Variation 1 – As with two-player chess, a player says “check” when the opponent’s king piece is in danger. Checkmate is achieved when the opponent’s king piece is about to be captured and can no longer escape. In three-player chess, a player whose king is in checkmate position skips their turn and waits. They may resume play if the third player
removes the threat to their king. The game continues until the first checkmate is delivered. The player who delivered the checkmate is the winner. The losers are both the player who was checkmated and the third player who failed to prevent the king under direct attack from being captured.

Variation 2 – After the first king is captured, the game continues. The player who managed to deliver a checkmate receives a kind of “bonus” — he or she takes over the pieces of the checkmated player and plays with two sets of pieces until ultimate checkmate is delivered.

Variation 3 – Similar to the second variation, the game continues after the first king is captured. The pieces of the checkmated player are not removed from the chessboard nor can they be played. However, they can be captured and replaced when a player wants to set their piece on the occupied square. The game continues until the delivery of an ultimate checkmate.

You Are Ready!

The nature of conquering and surviving is familiar to all who have played chess. Three player chess combines all of the infinite varieties of a classic game of chess with the addition of complex psychological elements. Alliances are formed and broken if players so wish. A player must be focused not only on attacking and protecting his/her own pieces but also in protecting other players threatened by the third one.

Now that you have learned the rules of this exciting chess variant, find your two companions and prepare to have fun!

 

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