Three player chess is a family of chess variants specially designed to be played by three people.[1] There are many variations of three-handed chess. They usually use some non-standard board, for example, hexagonal or three-sided board connected in the middle in a special way.
Three-player chess (and other games) variants are the hardest to design fairly, because the imbalance created when two gang up on one is usually too great for the player to withstand. Some versions avoid this problem by deciding victory such that the third player loses as well as the checkmated player, leaving the player who delivers checkmate first to be the victor.
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Some variants use a special three-sided board with quadrilateral cells (as shown in the picture at right).
Some three-player chess variants use a board with hexagonal cells. Pieces move usually as in one of the versions of hexagonal chess:
Besides boards with hexagonal and quadrilateral cells, some other board forms were tried:
The introduction of a third player drastically changes the style of play, even if standard pieces are used. Many chess openings are useless due to the extended board and third player. The introduction of the 'extra' move by the third player can introduce situations of deadlock, for example if a white piece is undefended and simultaneously attacked by both black and red pieces. Black cannot take the white piece, since red would then capture the black piece next turn. Thus the black and red pieces are both simultaneously attacking the white piece and defending it from attack by the other player. In similar situations, a piece can move quite safely into a square where it is attacked by both opponents, since neither opponent would take the piece and risk capture by the third player. Each player must think twice as far ahead — anticipating the moves of both opponents, with the added complexity that the next player may move to attack either of his opponents.
In games where the third player loses as well as the checkmated one, players must concentrate not only on their own attack and defense, but also on preventing the two opponents from checkmating each other. A player can take advantage of one opponents position to checkmate the other, but must be careful that the third player does not checkmate first. White could checkmate red, only to have his piece captured by a black piece, which checkmates red. In this situation, white would lose since black delivers the final checkmating move. This strategy also applies to games which give the checkmating player command of the checkmated opponent's pieces- a player who allows the second player to checkmate the third would surely go on to lose due to the increased power of his remaining opponent, now armed with the third player's pieces.