Use these links to navigate to each major heading. They lead to text that is coloured blue later in the post.

Forum Rules
Standard Conventions
- Gamemodes
- Variations
Standard Point System
New Game, Custom Positions, and Palettes
Starting a New Game
- Joining a game
- Starting a new game

Making a Move
Skip to Comments

Forum Rules

- Standard Rules of chess.com.

- Keep topics related to 4 Player Chess.

- No flame wars.

- No cheating, follow game specific rules, cheating results in ban.

- No editing the game rules after players have started joining.

- No editing/deleting previous comments or moves as a way to manipulate the game.

- No spamming threads.

- Use appropriate forum titles and tags.

- Post any feedback or questions in the feedback thread.

- Do not interfere in other people’s games. You can comment on other peoples threads but no suggesting moves/strats, keep comments constructive and to a minimum.

- If you join a game MAKE SURE YOU ARE FOLLOWING THE THREAD.

- When making a move, follow the guidelines on the Making a Move section. Keep all images as high quality as possible.

- Do not join a game unless you are sure you can commit.

- Do not ask for admin EVER. You will be given admin if you have contributed, you do not have to ask for it.

- No premoves.

- It is the responsibility of the host to update a board after a player has resigned, including the replacement of pieces with Zombie Pieces.

Forum Tags

Add these tags to the title of your thread if appropriate.

[Open] - For a game that is looking for players to join.

[In Progress] - For a game that is already in session.

[Closed] - For a game that is completed.

[Reserved] - For a game where the host only intends to invite specific people.

[Puzzle] - For Puzzles.

[NCP] - For New Custom Positions looking for general feedback. You don't need to "test it out" first for admin approval, if you want to play it, just play it. If it's really good, consider submitting it for approval at the official 4PC Custom Games club.

[Other] - For anything else other than the above.

Shenanigans

If an illegal move or error has been made you should call it right away before another player makes a move. Inform the player that made the illegal move so they can rectify the problem immediately.

If a minor error has been made by way of wrong notation or bad board image: consider the board image as canon first. If the image contains an illegal move, then consider the notation as canon.

In both cases make sure the player rectifies the problem to avoid future confusion. If both the image and the notation contain illegal moves then the player must move again and it is at the discretion of the game host to choose whether or not (and by how much) to penalise the player (Suggestion: 10 points for FFA and 20 points for Teams or a straight up resignation).

Time controls are determined by the host. I recommend not being too stingy on time controls but it is up to the host to determine how lenient they wish to be to those who take more time than has been allocated. A host cannot declare that a player has resigned if they make their move within the allocated time frame.

If someone has blatantly manipulated the board, scores or edited a past move for their own benefit, tell me or another admin and see if you can get proof (or provide witnesses) as well. Nobody got time for that.

But is it teaming? Is it really???

In FFA and Solo you cannot tell another player (or team) how to make their moves. You cannot suggest moves at all; this counts as game interference. The exception to the rule is in Diplomacy, Capitalism, Anarchy and Anarcho-capitalism variations.

The nature of the board means that there will be situations where it is not advantageous to take the piece of another player (since other players are bigger threats to you). It is not teaming to play moves that you think are strategically advantageous to you even if it happens to benefit another player on the board. In the long run, you should only be looking out for your own interests within the game.

Please don't message me or the admins if you suspect players of "ganging up on you". As often is the case, when one player starts to go down there will tend to be a feeding frenzy. Only message me or an admin if you are absolutely sure that an illegal pre-arranged teaming pact has been made.

Standard Conventions

- Orthodox pieces move as they do in regular chess.

- Fairy pieces move as they do in chess.com Variants, unless specified otherwise.

- Play goes clockwise starting with Red/Violet/Player 1.

- Pawns promote on the 8th rank (11th in Teams).

- Pawns promote to a 1 point Queen in FFA and Solo.

- A resigned player’s pieces turn into dead (grey) pieces except for the King which does not move but may be captured for points in FFA and Solo.

- Stalemates can only be induced onto a player on that players turn.

Gamemodes

There are 3 types of Gamemodes.

FFA - Free for all. Players battle against everyone else to have the most points by the end of the game.
The player that delivers the finishing blow to a King (preventing the King from being able to defend or escape) is the player that receives the points from the checkmate.

Solo - It's the same as FFA but with the highly inspirational game developing concept of the year that only one person collects the ratings points...

Teams - 2 teams of 2. The winning team is determined as the first team to checkmate one of the opponents (unless you are playing custom checkmate variations).

A player can only be checkmated on their turn.

When a player is stalemated that game is a draw.

Pawns can promote to a Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight.

Standard teams are: Players 1 & 3 (Red & Yellow) - vs - Players 2 & 4 (Blue & Green). "Team 1" refers to the team with Players "Red and Yellow", "Team 2" refers to the team with Players "Blue and Green".

Variations

Variations are extra or different rules to enable different styles of gameplay. Please include the name of the variation (and any other rules) within the first post of a gamethread.

QRBN - When a pawn reaches the promotion rank, it can turn into a regular point value Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight.

Zombie King - When a player resigns, that players pieces turn into dead pieces (as usual) but the player's King turns into a Zombie King.
On each turn that would have been the resigned players turn, the Zombie King must move to a random location within its vicinity. To determine how a Zombie King moves, the host of the gamethread should roll an 8 sided die, where landing the number 1 indicates that the King should move to its north square (North from Player 1/red' perspective), 2 indicates the North-East square and so on continuing clockwise. If the Zombie King is able to castle (usually on the players last go as they resign or time-out) and castling is an option, then roll a 10 sided die where 9 is Kingside and 10 is Queenside. It is the responsibility of the host to move the Zombie King, making appropriate posts on the Zombie player's behalf.

The Zombie King may only move to a square if it is a legal move (i.e. does not put the Zombie King in check, except in Capture The King variations). If a square is unavailable then the host should keep rolling until an available square has been indicated by the dice.
A Zombie King must be checkmated like a regular active King in order for another player to claim the points from it.
If a Zombie King is stalemated then the points inherited by that Zombie King are distributed among the rest of the remaining players (as indicated by the points section).

Notate the Zombie King's move in bold and italics.

Custom Promotion - You define the promotion rank and options.
Example: 12th=QRBNK

(Pawns promote to a queen, rook, bishop, knight or king on the 12th rank)

Custom Points - You can set up your own point systems if you declare it in the first post of a gamethread.

Custom Checkmates - In Teams you can alter the amount of checkmates needed to eliminate a team or win a game respectively. definitions should include the game specific laws of the stalemate.

Custom Teams - In Teams you can alter the team lineups so that different players are partnered with counterparts that are not their usual standard.

Single Player - Each "Team" of the board is represented and played by a single individual.

Last One Standing - The winner is the last player or team on the board. A stalemated player in FFA becomes de facto second.

Capture the King - There is no checkmate (or stalemate).
Checkmate points are only acquired by capturing the King.

A checked King is not forced to move out of check and may even move into or (castle) through check.

A player is eliminated when their King is captured.

King of the Hill - The Winner is the last player standing or the player who gets their King into the center first.

Diplomacy - In FFA you can suggest moves and even ask for favours in return for other favours, building alliances is encouraged.

All favorus, move suggestions and requests must be made in the respective game threads

Favours do not have to be honored.

Capitalism - Like Diplomacy but you can trade points for favours as well. You can also buy and sell pieces to other players (on either of your turns only).
All trade discussion and bartering must be held on within the related gamethread
All trades must be declared in the gamethread using the tag "[Declaration]". Favours do not have to be honored but all trades must be.
You cannot trade with a player in check.

Anarchy - Like Diplomacy but you can make secret alliances away from the main board and you do not have to declare the favours you are making or asking for in the main chat.

Anarcho-Capitalism - Anarchy but you can make secret trade agreements as well. All transactions must take the form of [Declaration] within the main game-thread however. If a player pays for a favour or a piece at some future point, the other player does not have to honor the agreement. You cannot pay out more points than you already have, but you can promise to pay at a future date - if you do, you do not necessarily have to pay them back.

Standard Point System

Captures

Pawn - 1 point

Knight - 3 points

Bishop - 5 points

Rook - 5 points

Queen - 10 points

1 point Queen - 1 point

King (Capture) - 20 points

Checkmates

Checkmate - 20 points

Stalemate (Points to an active player) - 20 points

Multiple Checks

	Double +	Triple +
Piece >=7	1	5
Piece < 7	5	20

Zombie King Stalemate distribution

3 Players: +7

2 Players: +10

New Game, Custom Positions & Palettes

New Game

Regular Palette

Fairy Palette

Stone Palette

Empty Board

Custom Positions

-

Starting a New Game

Joining a new game

If you would like to join a game, look for a thread with the word [Open] in the title and say the word JOIN. Make sure you are following this thread to see if you have been accepted into this game.

If you would like to join with a teammate say the word JOIN followed by your username and the username of the player you want to team with (make sure they are available to play and send them a link to the thread).

If there are more than enough players looking to join the same game, then it is at the discretion of the host to choose who plays.

Starting a new game

Anyone can start a new game.

Before you start you will need 3 bits of information:

- What will your gamemode be?

- What variation rules will your game have?

- What will your game's ID number be?

To see what different gamemodes and variations are available have a look at the Gamemodes and Variations section - or you can make your own, provided that you explain the rules of your custom variation clearly.

To find out what your game's ID will be, you will need to find the ID of the most recent game submitted to the forum and add 1 to that number. This can be a little tricky, so if you're not sure, guess and update if you realise your game ID is shared with another thread.

This number is your game ID: 1

Step One - Start a new topic and give this thread an appropriate title. The format of a "game-thread" title should be: [STATUS] GAMEMODE - VARIATION #ID

There are 4 statuses that your game-thread can have:

[Open] - Add this for when you are looking for players to join your game.
[Reserved] - Add this for when you wish to play a game but only with certain invited people.
[In Progress] - Change your status to this when you have all players and the game is underway.
[Closed] - Change your status to this if the game is over.

An example of a game-thread title could be: [Open] Teams - Single Player #160

Step Two - Within the first post, add the particulars. Here is a blank setup you can copy and paste into your game-thread. Fill in the blanks. Time refers to the amount of time each player has to make their move:

Game ID:

Status:

Game type:

Variations:

Time:

Players:
Player 1 (Red) -
Player 2 (Blue) -
Player 3 (Yellow) -
Player 4 (Green) -

Step Three - Post this thread.

Step Four - Wait for players to join and consider posting its availability in the "Open Games" Thread - (making sure to be nice to admins and remove the post when your game is full).

Step Five - When sufficient players have joined determine their player order (colour). As the host, you can do this yourself by choosing, but we recommend that you roll a 4 sided die to determine which player is what colour - where 1 = Player 1 (Red), 2 = Player 2 (Blue), 3 = Player 3 (Yellow), 4 = Player 4 (Green).

- If determining teams and someone has requested to be partnered with someone, determine the position of one of the requesters and make their partner(s) the other color(s).

Update the first post to reflect who is playing, what colour/position they are and/or what the teams are.

Step Six - Declare that the game has begun and change the status on the first post and in the thread title to [In Progress].

Step Seven - Be a glorious host! If you like, you can keep a picture of the current game as it goes along on the first post with updated scores and such.

Step Eight - When the game is over, change the status in the first post and thread title to [Closed].

Extra: If you want to play a game with custom positions, unavailable fairy pieces (literally anything), then be my guest... just be sure to make clear that it is a custom position you are playing in the first post and thread title.

Making a Move

When it is your turn to move you should do so in the following way:

Look at the board posted by the player that went before you.
Decide what move you would like to make.
Edit the image of the board that the last player uploaded to reflect the move you would like to make; in the case of Player 1's (Red's) first move, edit the "New Game" which can be found in the New Game, Custom Positions, and Palettes section (see board editing below).
Post your move in the gamethread according to the format below.

Format

When posting a move you should use the following format:

Player Number or Colour (in bold)

Move notation (see Notation below)

[Image]

Declarations (if applicable in trade games)

Player Scores (In FFA and Solo)

Here is an example:

Player 1 (Red)

1. h3

Score:

Red (Red) - 0
Blue (Blue) - 0
Yellow (Yellow) - 0
Green (Green) - 0

Notation

There are two forms of notation you can use to indicate your moves. Either is acceptable.

Colour Indication method

The move for each player is notated using the the first letter of the colour that has been standardised for each player by Chess.com in the English language irrespective of any other 4pc community that exists outside of Chess.com, those that use colours alternative to this standard (even for medical reasons) and anyone who speaks any language other than English.

For example:

1 r. h3
1 b. c7
1 y. g12
1 g. l8

When you make a move start by writing (preferably in bold) the ply-number (number indicating which round of moves it is) followed by the letter representing your colour (in the english language as represented by the standard of Chess.com) and then a single period (full stop) ".", followed by your move (prefereably non-bold).

Algebracket Method

Algebracket is 4pc notation method that enables users to describe continuations using simple descriptive methods. It can also be used to indicate which player has made a specific move and does not depend on the colour of the pieces used by any particular group or person nor any particular language.

To indicate a move in Algebracket notation, consider the move being made and 0, 1, 2 or 3 hyphens before the move but after the ply number to indicate which player is making the move.

For example:

1. h3
1. - c7
1. - - g12
1. - - - l8

Other functions of the Algebracket Method

When describing move sequences of potential continuations it can be useful to describe many moves that lead to the same outcome. As a result, the following can be used to describe particular scenarios (where "XX" refers to some arbitrary unimportant move):

(XX, XX)
"This-or-That" brackets. In this continuation either "This" or "That" move is played in order to lead to the particular continuation (usually because the outcome of the sequence is inevitably the same).

[XX, XX]
Conditional brackets. Usually followed by another set of conditional brackets. If the first move within the first set of conditional brackets is played, then the first move within the second set of conditional brackets is played; if the second move within the first set of conditional brackets is played then the second move within the second set of conditional brackets is played... and so on. This-or-That brackets can be placed within Conditional brackets depending on the circumstances.

@
The @ symbol is used to refer to "Any Move". This can be useful when referring to a move that isn't of any particular importance because a continuation (such as describing a checkmate) does not depend much on this particular players move.

(/XX, XX)
"Any-move-except-for" brackets. Any move except for the moves in these brackets can be played.

Algebracket Examples

Fool's Mate:

1. (h3, h4) @ (g12, g11) (l7, k7)
2. Qxn8+ (/Qg13, Qh14, Bh13) Bm7 #

This says that is Player 1 (Red) plays the move h3 or h4 on their first move, Player 3 (Yellow) plays g12 or g11 and Player 4 (Green) plays l7 or k7... then Fool's mate is achieved on round/ply 2 after Player 1 captures on the n8 square with Qxn8+ and Player 3 checkmates with Bm7. This can only be achieved if player 2 does not deliver a check on Player 3 with the moves Qg13, Qh14 or Bh13.

"The Blue Monday Blunders" (Name to be determined and verified):

1. [h3, h4] [d8, (c8, d8)]

This says that if Player 1 plays h3 and Player 2 plays d8 OR if Player 1 plays h3 and Player 2 plays c8 or d8 then a Blue Monday blunder is achieved. It described any one of the three following sequences:

1. h3 d8
1. h4 c8
1. h4 d8

Declarations

In trade games (Capitalism and Anarcho-capitalism), players/teams can trade points and pieces with other players and teams.

In order for a trade/transaction to take effect, you must declare the action on your move, or before the move of the player you are trading with in the gamethread. Transactions can only take effect on one of the trading players moves, but you can set up a transaction before your trading partners (or your own) turn. Transactions/trades cannot take place if one of the trading players is in check.

Gifting pieces or points can happen at any point in the game, even when it is not a players turn. Like trades, they must be declared and you cannot gift to a player who is in a checkmated position. When pieces or points are gifted to another player in return for a favour, future piece or points, there is no obligation for that player to actually honor that agreement.

When a piece is traded (or given) to another player, that piece must stay on its original square and simply changes color.

When trading pieces or points, it is upon the player who's turn it is to update the board and score appropriately to reflect the changes so the next player can continue without hinderance.

When gifting pieces, it is upon the player who is gifting to update the board and score noting who's turn it is to actually move.

Editing the Board

Follow this guide step by step. Doing so is the easiest and most efficient way to make moves that we have (for now) and will retain the quality of the board. I have tried to make this guide as simple and clear as possible. DO NOT SCREENSHOT, IT DOESN'T WORK. Just follow this guide exactly and you'll be fine.

Step One - Open up a window of a simple image editing software such a MS Paint or Paint 3D (for Windows), Paint Brush or JS Paint (for MacOs), Pinta or GIMP for Linux.

Step Two - Go into the gamethread where your game is being played.

Step Three - Right click the image of the board that the last player to make a move submitted and click where it says "Copy Image". If you are Player 1 (Red) and it is your first move, go into the New Game, Custom Positions, and Palettes section and right click the board titled "New Game" (... and copy image).

Step Four - Paste the image into your image editing software. This can be easily done by right clicking and selecting paste. Alternatively you can hold CTRL and press "V" for windows or hold "Command" and press "V" for Macs. The image should fill up the entire canvas without any white (or blank) background. It's measurements should be exactly 1300 by 1160 pixels. If it is not, then try making your canvas arbitrarily small (less than 1000 pixels vertically and horizontally) and then paste the image again (the image should expand the size of the canvas).

Step Five - Open up another image editing window.

Step Six - Go into the New Game, Custom Positions, and Palettes section. Right click and copy the image titled "Regular Palette" (if you need Fairy pieces, right click the Fairy palette instead).

Step Seven - Paste the Palette into the new image editing window you just opened (so that it is in a different window to the board). It is possible to paste the palette into the window that has the board, but do not worry about this, opening up a new window will save you on having to tidy up some stuff later.

Step Eight - Consider what piece it is you need to make your move and what background (square) it will be on. Zoom in on that piece in the window containing the palette.

Step Nine - Select the "Select" tool. If given an option, choose the "Rectangular Select" option (most programs have it).

Step Ten - Make a selection box around the piece you need with a tiny bit of overhang in one corner and a tiny bit of underhang in the other corner, like this:

Make sure that when you do this that you consider where the edges of the board will be and do not make any "overhang" on the sides where the board edges are (just make the overhang on another corner.

Step Eleven - Copy the selection box (CTRL+C, Command+C or right click and select "Copy"). Now go over to the image editing window that has the board you want to change in it. Zoom in on the square where you want the piece to be and then paste (Crtl+V, Command+V or right click and select "Paste").

Step Twelve - Line up the selection box of the piece you just pasted perfectly onto the square you want it to be. You can use the overhang of the copied piece to line it up with the squares of the board so that it matched up precisely.

Step Thirteen - Next, go to the square where the piece "originally was" on the board. Make a very thin selection with the rectangle tool in such a way that: you only pick up the squares background color, you do not select over the piece you are trying to remove, the selection box is "taller than" than the piece you are removing.

Step Fourteen - Drag the selection box from its side so that the box covers the entire piece. Then click anywhere.

Step Fifteen - Save the Board as png file.

Step Sixteen - Upload the board to the gamethread along with the rest of your move details as indicated at the start of this post.

- Done.

End

4PC Correspondence

Super Admins

Admins