Four-Player Chess: Rules and How to Play
Four-player chess is chess for 4, about 30 minutes, on a cross-shaped board. Play 2 vs 2 teams or free-for-all. Free. In-browser. No account.
Objective
Four-player chess seats four players around a cross-shaped board, one per arm, with moves going clockwise. By default the players sitting opposite each other are partners, and the first team to checkmate an opponent wins. A setting switches to free-for-all, where everyone scores points for captures and checkmates. Chess for four goes back to a 1784 pamphlet from Dessau, Germany, and was popular enough in Victorian Britain to have its own London club.
Setup
- The board is 14×14 with the 3×3 corners removed — a cross of 160 squares. The four players sit at its four arms.
- Each player has a full set of 16 pieces — king, queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns — set up on their own arm as in chess. Your king faces the queen of the player opposite.
- Seats go clockwise from the bottom: Red (●), Blue (▲), Yellow (■) and Green (◆). Every piece carries its owner's mark.
- Moves go clockwise in the order players sat down. Each time you play again, the first player moves on one seat (you can fix it in the settings).
How to play
- Pieces move exactly as in chess. Pawns advance towards the player opposite and capture diagonally forwards; a pawn's first move may be two squares.
- Castling and en passant work as in chess.
- In teams, the player opposite is your partner: you cannot capture their pieces, and their pieces never put you in check.
- A pawn promotes on your 11th rank in teams (to a queen, rook, bishop or knight) and on your 8th rank — the middle of the board — in free-for-all (to a queen).
- You may never leave your own king in check.
Winning and scoring
- Teams: the first team to checkmate an opponent wins. Mate is decided when that player's turn comes, so their partner can still save them. A player with no legal move who is not in check is stalemated, and the game is drawn.
- If a king is left in check and another opponent moves before its owner does, that opponent may capture the king — which wins for their team.
- Free-for-all: captures score points (pawn 1, knight 3, bishop 5, rook 5, queen 9, promoted piece 1). Checkmate scores 20. A single check scores nothing, but checking two kings with one move scores 5 (1 if the checking piece is a queen) and three kings scores 20 (5 with a queen).
- In free-for-all a checkmated player is out, and their pieces turn grey on the board (they never move, and capturing them scores nothing). The game ends when three players are out, or when two are left more than 20 points apart; the highest score wins.
- A position repeated three times, or fifty moves each with no capture or pawn move, is a draw (in free-for-all, everyone still in scores 10).
Defaults on this site
| Item | Default on this site |
|---|---|
| Players | 4 players (set automatically by the party size) |
| Turn time limit | None by default (the host can set 30 or 60 seconds) |
| If someone drops mid-game | Reopening on the same device returns you to your seat. If you do not return, the CPU plays in your place. |
| Draws | In ranked play, a draw counts as halfway between a win and a loss for your rating. |
| Source of the rules | Based on the standard reference rules |
Rules supervised by Qdan, Inc. (based on the standard reference rules)
House rules
Defaults follow the standard reference rules. The party can change these.
| Name | Description | Default | Changeable |
|---|---|---|---|
| FormatFormatIn Teams, the players sitting opposite are partners, cannot capture each other's pieces, and win by checkmating either opponent. In Free-for-all everyone plays alone and collects points by capturing (pawn 1 up to queen 9) and checkmating (20). The game ends once three players are out, or when the last two players are more than 20 points apart; the most points wins. Teams is shorter and easier for a first game. | Play teams, where the players opposite are partners and mating one opponent wins (about 20–30 minutes), or free-for-all, where everyone scores points until three players are out or the last two are more than 20 points apart (about 30–40 minutes). | Teams | Yes |
| Move limit | When all four players' moves together reach this number, the game ends — a draw in teams, or decided on points in free-for-all. | None | Yes |
| Show legal moves | Mark the squares a selected piece can reach. | On | Yes |
| Rotate the first player | Each time you play again, the first player moves one seat clockwise. | On | Yes |
Terms
- Teams
- Two against two, with the players sitting opposite as partners. Checkmate one opponent to win.
- Free-for-all
- Everyone for themselves, scoring points for captures and checkmates. The highest score wins.
- Dead pieces
- In free-for-all, the pieces of a player who is out turn grey and stay on the board. They never move or give check; anyone may capture them for no points.
- Promotion
- A pawn reaching the promotion rank becomes another piece — the 11th rank in teams, the 8th (the middle of the board) in free-for-all.
FAQ
If I'm in check, is it checkmate straight away?
In teams, mate is decided when your turn comes, so your partner may still block or capture the attacker first. In free-for-all, a player with no way out is checkmated at once.
Can a king be captured?
Yes, if a king is left in check and another opponent gets to move before its owner does. In teams that wins the game; in free-for-all it scores 20 points.
What happens to the pieces of a player who is out?
In free-for-all they turn grey and stay on the board. They never move or give check, and anyone may capture them for no points.
Where do pawns promote?
In teams, on your 11th rank, to a queen, rook, bishop or knight. In free-for-all, on your 8th rank — the middle of the board — to a queen, which is worth only 1 point if captured.
Can I resign?
Yes. In teams your team loses; in free-for-all you are out of the game.
Play now with these rules
Last updated 2026-09-25 · Run by Qdan, Inc.