8 Player Chess
8 Player Chess
Ever wanted to play chess like it was an all out war? Ever felt like chess is at its finest when there is more rage, more backstabbing and a bountiful supply of merciless carnage?
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring to you the biggest multiplayer chess revolution in 500 years...
8 Player Chess.
- What Is 8 Player Chess?
- 8 Player Chess Notation And Terminology
- Rules Of Standard 8 Player Chess Singles
- Rules Of Standard 8 Player Chess Pairs
- Rules Of Standard 8 Player Chess Teams
- Clarification Of Points
- 8 Player Chess Variants
- 8 Player Chess Board Variations
- Conclusion
What Is 8 Player Chess?
8 Player Chess is a family of chess variants played by eight people. Each player has a different colour for their set of pieces, namely white, red, blue, yellow, purple, orange, green and black. The game always starts with Player 1 (White) and continues clockwise. The board has a whopping 516 squares and is modified in such a way as to provide ample opportunity for all players.
The rules for regular chess mostly apply to these games, along with additional regulations specific to each variant. In 8 Player Chess, there are three main gamemodes: Singles, Pairs and Teams. Players can also customise the rules and even the positions of the pieces to produce a wide range of variants according to their own preference of play.
8 Player Chess Notation and Terminology
8 Player Chess comes with its own unique notation and terminology.
Dictionary
Here is a quick dictionary that you may find useful:
Move - A single turn or action made by one player.
Set - A set of actions made by each remaining player within a notated bound.
Quack - When the Queen is under attack.
Tempicheck - A measure of distance (in moves) for how far away a piece or player is from giving check to an enemy King.
Stability - A measure of how evenly distributed a Team or Pair's forces are between their constituent players. A Team with low stability will have more its forces distributed among some players than others. High stability generally means that the forces are evenly distributed. Generally speaking, the stability of a Team can have long term implications for strategy as more options tend to be available for a team with a balanced stability.
Notation
There are two main forms of notation to consider. There is the Colour Indication method which is useful for colloquial casual games when you don't want to spend too much time thinking about the numerical position of each player; then there is the less exlusive and formal Roman Numeral method that is useful for communicating with players that do not speak English as their first language, choose a different colour base for their pieces, are colourblind, or who generally just don't want to have to refer to the colour of the pieces when referring to player order because of how unintuitive and non-game affecting piece colours actually are when it comes to playing the game.
In both sets of notation "type", the write up is essentially exactly the same as regular chess notation types (e.g, Algebraic, FEN, PGN etc.). The main differences between standard chess notation and 8 Player Chess notation is that individual player moves are indicated differently (according to which player indication method is used) and Captures are not indicated using notation - instead a piece just moves to a respective square.
If you must indicate capture, you can do so with the colon symbol ":" instead of the "x" symbol as the letter x is used to indicate a habitable file.
In Colour Indication, a move from an individual player can be indicated by the english language letter representing the colour of the piece (where w=white, r=red, b=blue and so on except for black which is indicated with the letter "n" to seperate it from blue):
1 w. h3
1 r. c7
1 b. c17
1 y. g22
1 p. q22
1 o. v18
1 g. v8
1 n. r3
The Roman Numeral Indication method is a lot more formal and uses Roman Numerals to indicate the Player moving:
1 i. h3
1 ii. c7
1 iii. c17
1 iv. g22
1 v. q22
1 vi. v18
1 vii v8
1 viii. r3
Rules Of Standard 8 Player Chess Singles
One of the most prominent variants of 8 Player Chess is the Singles game. As the name suggests, each of the eight players must fend for themselves in a battle against the other seven.
The goal of this variant is to finish the game with more points than your opponents. There are many ways in which a player can earn points:
- By checkmating an opponent (+25);
- By stalemating oneself (+25);
- By stalemating an opponent (points depending on how many players left in the game);
- By capturing active pieces (+1 for a Pawn, +2 for a Knight, +5 for a Bishop, +7 for a Rook, +10 for a Queen and +25 for the King).
Pawns promote on the eleventh rank (relative to each player) into either a Knight, Bishop, Rook or Queen worth the same amount of points as they usually would. A common variation however is the 1 point Queen variation where a Pawn will instead automatically promote to a Queen that is only worth 1 point upon capture.
During the game, a player is eliminated by resigning, being stalemated, checkmated, having their King captured or if their time runs out.
When a player is checkmated or stalemated, all of their pieces become inactive and are grayed out. Capturing those pieces does not provide any points.
In standard Singles games, a player is usually only checkmated or stalemated on their turn. If a player is in a position that would usually be an inescapable checkmate outside of their turn, then other players who still have a move before the checkmated player's turn have the opportunity to steal the checkmate for themselves, or even save the player by negating the checkmated position! Stealing a checkmate can only happen if a would-be escaping square for the checked King is now covered by the stealing player and no longer covered by the former square covering player as a result of the stealing player's action.
A player can only resign on their move. When a player resigns or runs out of time, then 25 points is given to the player who took the most amount of points from them during play provided that player has not themselves been eliminated. If two or more players have taken the same amount of points out of a player who resigns or runs out of time, then the points are destributed among those players evenly.
If there is a draw by threefold repetition, insufficient material, or the 50-set rule, all active players receive 25 points each.
The game ends when seven players are eliminated. Additionally, a game can end when just two players remain, and one of them is ahead on the scoreboard by 26 or more points. That player can claim victory by resigning and awarding the other player 25 points—not enough to reach first place.
It is important to note that in Standard Singles games, one cannot communicate with other players to join forces. Doing so is prohibited and can get you banned for life with no chance of parole and a permanent criminal record denying you entry into over 180 sovereign UN nations.
Rules Of Standard 8 Player Chess Pairs
Pairs is just like Singles except you a paired up with the player positionally opposite you on the board in an attempt to get the most amount of points for your Pair by the end of the game. Player 1 (White) is paired with Player 5 (Purple), Player 2 (Red) with Player 6 (Orange), Player 3 (Blue) with Player 7 (Green) and Player 4 (Yellow) with Player 8 (Black). Player's cannot capture their teammate's pieces.
Working as a team is essential in Pairs and you must communicate with your partner to gain the advantage. When we finally have a live server up and running you'll be able to communicate with your partner using a private chat feature as well as the ability to draw arrows on the board so your partner knows what you are thinking.
The goal of pairs is to be the pair with the most points by the end of the game where points are awarded in the same format as is done in Singles.
It is to your advantage to save your teammate. If your partner is eliminated you will have less manoeuvrability over the board but you yourself will not be eliminated unless you are checkmated or stalemated. If you or your partner is stalemated by another player, then your team does not recieve any points from the stalemating.
If a player resigns or runs out of time, then the 25 points that would have been acquired from their checkmate are given to the team that took the most points from that player.
Like with Singles, if a player stalemates themselves then 25 points are awarded to their pair but the player is eliminated. Similarly, if a player is stalemated by their partner, then the pair also collects the 25 points.
Rules Of Standard 8 Player Chess Teams
4-vs-4. The Ultimate team based chess game. Each team of 4 works together to eliminate players from the other team. The winner is the first team to checkmate at least 3 of their adversaries.
Team Odd consists of Players 1, 3, 5 and 7 (White, Blue, Purple, Green). Team Even consists of Players 2, 4, 6 and 8 (Red, Yellow, Orange and Black).
Stalemates do not count as checkmates. If a team has two of their members stalemated then the game is drawn.
If a player resigns or runs out of time, this is considered a checkmate for the opposing team
Clarification Of Points
Stalemated King or shared points from time-up/resignation (Singles)
If a Player is stalemated by another player's move then points are given to the other players according to how many players are still active on the board. This list also indicates the amount of points given to each player that has to share points from a resigned/timed-out player when they have equal claim to the points from that player's time-out or resignation.
1 Player - 25 points
2 Players - 12 points
3 Players - 8 points
4 Players - 6 points
5 Players - 5 points
6 Players - 4 points
7 Players - 3 points
Stalemated King (Pairs)
If a Player is stalemated by another player's move then points are given to enemy pairs according to how many players are still active on the board not including the stalemated player's partner. Each pair is awarded points based upon how many players are left in their pair. This list indicates the amount of points given to each player left on the board (excluding the stalemated players partner) so a pair in essence would be able to collect points twice from a stalemated King:
1 Player - 25 points
2 Players - 12 points
3 Players - 8 points
4 Players - 6 points
5 Players - 5 points
6 Players - 4 points
Shared points from time-up/resignation (Pairs)
If a player is timed-out or resigns during a pairs game, then the points from their resignation goes to the pair who took the most amount of points out of that player. If two or three teams took the same amount of points from a player, then the points are evenly distributed:
1 Pair - 25 points
2 Pairs - 12 points
3 Pairs - 8 points
Multiple Checks in Checkpoints variations (Singles & Pairs)
This list indicates the amount of points you'll get for checking multiple Kings in a single move in Checkpoints variations (note: in Pairs, your partner's King does not count and you cannot check 7 players).
1 King - 1 Points
2 Kings - 4 Point
3 Kings - 16 Points
4 Kings - 64 Points
5 Kings - 256 Points
6 Kings - 1012 Points
7 Kings - Gameover, you win.
Popular 8 Player Chess Variations
Here is a list of some of the most popular variants (or rule modifications) that can be added to various gamemodes.
Winner Takes All (Singles & Pairs)
In rated Singles and Pairs games, the winner/s gets all the rating points as opposed to the standard which is distributed based on placement.
Immediate Checkmate
If a player finds themselves in what would usually be an inescapable checkmated position, then they are checkmated immediately regardless of whose move it is.
Capture The King
There is no check at all and players do not need to conform to any check action whatsoever (including in castling). Instead, a player is only eliminated once their King has been captured.
Last King Standing
The winner is whoever is last standing on the board.
Only King Worth Points (Singles & Pairs)
Only the King is worth any points.
Custom Points
Pieces are worth a custom amount of points based upon the preference of the host initiating the game.
Zombie King (Singles & Pairs)
When a player resigns or times out, rather than points being given to whoever took the most points out of that player whilst they were still in play, the player's pieces are grayed out but their King remains "alive" and moves randomly and acts as if that player never timed out or resigned at all.
1 Point Queen promotion (Singles & Pairs)
Rather than being given the choice to promote into a standard Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight, the pawn will instead promote into a Queen that will only be worth 1 point upon capture.
Checkpoints (Singles & Pairs)
Points are given to a player who manages to check multiple opponents according to how many enemy Kings they have managed to put in check with a single move.
Partner Knockout (Pairs)
In Pairs, if a player is checkmated then so is their partner and points for checkmating both are awarded to whoever checkmated the first. If a player is stalemated then their partner remains in the game to try and get points.
Custom Checkmate requirements (Teams)
Changes the amouont of checkmates needed for victory in Teams from a standard 3 to 1, 2 or 4.
Diplomacy (Singles & Pairs)
You can communicate with your opponents and make secret allegiences (providing "favours" for each other even) in an attempt to increase your chances of surviving until the end of the game. Unlike standard variations, teaming up is thoroughly encouraged in this variation, but don't be surprised if the player you teamed up with turns around and stabs you in the back. Remember, if you ask for a favour from someone, who says they have to uphold their end of the bargain?
Trade
You can trade points and pieces with other players at any point in the game provided you are not in check.
Custom Positions
You can customise the starting position and promotion ranks etc. for all pieces and all armies to create a virtually infinite amount of variations of the game based on other gaming styles. This can also include the use of fairy pieces with new functions, movement styles and utilities. These new variations and custom positions all count as 8 Player Chess variations and as such are protected and can't be patented (Don't be a Dictator >:0).
8 Player Chess Board Variations
Prior to the standard version being invented on May 17th 2021, there were a few other versions of 8 Player Chess that were invented before this version that are worth mentioning.
8-Way Hyperbolic Chess
Circa ~ February 2014. A modified board that utilises hyperbolic geometry and fairy pieces in order to play 8 Player Chess.
8 Player Chess - Halio
Circa ~ 2016. Invented by Halio in a steam workshop. This version utilises tiles that have been stretched to fit a pseudo-circular shape in order that 8 players can play equidistantly from each other.
Circular Chess For 12 Players (8 Single Players)
Based on the 12 Player Chess Circular Board invented by Hridayeshwar Singh Bhati in 2012.
8 Player Chess - Romanko
From our good friend within the 4 Player Chess community. This version was created circa January 2018 by Luke Romanko at least 3 years before the version we have been detailing. Both myself and Luke came up with our versions independently but it should be noted how similar our versions are which is likely a result from the incident that we would have both been influenced by our exposure to 4 Player Chess as it exists here on chess.com.
8 Player Chess - L shaped
Another variation created by Romanko is 8 Player Chess upon an L-shaped board. As I understand it, this was done so that players wouldn't be reaching so far in order to move pieces over a real life board. An image has been hard to obtain but you can see the board clearly enough in the following video:
Conclusion
Development is underway by a few of us in order that we can have a live server one day. Progress is being made that you can see right here at: https://www.8playerchess.com/.
In the meantime, come check out the Official 8 Player Chess club, if you're as enthusiastic as we are to see this come about one day, join here instead.
If you would like to join a club that has been set up to promote the creation of 8PC custom positions, then check out the 8PC Custom Positions Club or join it here.
Between myself and Luke Romanko, we realised that we were the only persons to have invented variations of 8 Player Chess to exist on boards comprising of regular tesselating tiles (squares). So although we can't speak for the creators of the other versions out there we made an agreement that all versions and variations of 8 Player Chess that use regular squares (and triangles and hexagons) should be free and in the public domain as much as can be legally considered so because that's the right thing to do and Chess is for everybody. You can check out the Public Domain Dedication of 8 Player Chess here.
Thankyou for reading this article, we hope to see you on the 8 Player Chess Set very soon.
- Eldar
