Quatrochess

Quatrochess gameboard and starting position. In the diagram, standard pieces have their usual representations, as well as fairy pieces chancellor and archbishop. A mann is represented by an inverted king, wazir by inverted rook, fers by inverted bishop, giraffe by inverted knight, and camel by a horizontal knight.

Quatrochess is a chess variant for four players invented by George R. Dekle, Sr. in 1986. The board comprises 14x14 squares minus the four central squares. Each player controls a standard set of sixteen chess pieces, and additionally nine fairy pieces. The game can be played in partnership (two opposing teams of two) or all-versus-all.

Quatrochess was included in World Game Review No. 10 edited by Michael Keller.

Game rules

The illustration shows the starting setup. White moves first and play proceeds clockwise around the board. Teammates sit in opposite corners in partnership games.

The squareless center may not be moved to or through; however, it may be jumped over by pieces that leap (knight, chancellor, archbishop, camel, and giraffe). The king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, and pawn move and capture as they do in chess. Each player's eight pawns are divided into two groups of four: one group moves forward along files, the other along ranks. As in chess, pawns have an initial two-step option, en passant is possible, and promotion occurs at the board's end. There is no castling in Quatrochess.

Fairy piece moves

The fairy pieces all capture the same as they move:

• The chancellor moves as a chess rook and knight.
• The archbishop moves as a chess bishop and knight.
• The mann moves as a chess king, but has no royal power.
• The wazir moves one step orthogonally in any direction.
• The fers moves one step diagonally in any direction.
• A camel leaps in a (1,3) pattern like an elongated knight's move. It jumps over any intervening men.
• A giraffe leaps in a (1,4) pattern like an elongated knight's move. It jumps over any intervening men.

Winning

When a player is checkmated or stalemated, his king is immediately removed from the game and his remaining men become the property of the player delivering the mate or stalemate (all-versus-all game), or of his teammate (partnership game). The last surviving player (or team) is the winner.

Read more:

• Four-handed chess
• Also by George Dekle:
  • Tri-Chess - a three-player variant with triangular cells, chancellors and cardinals
  • Three-Man Chess - a three-player variant with quadrilateral cells