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I"m working on a book of 4pc(teams) openings and this seems to be the most popular opening that I have found (no verified statistics on this, but I would welcome them!). I would love to hear from people on what they like/hate about this opening, it's strengths/weaknesses, and wether people think it is better for one side, the other, or pretty balanced.Mainline Sicilian-Kan (gremu's bishop out) [Variant "Teams"] 1. h2-h3 .. b6-d6 .. h13-h12 .. m9-l9 2. Qg1-j4 .. b8-c8 .. Bi14-g12 .. m8-k8

The problem: it has become too hard to gain a higher rating in both FFA and teams. The solution: everything should stay the same aside from 2 details in FFA and 1 detail in team Main idea: Rating caps (Once deviation has reached a certain level) FFA 1: Cap for last place: a maximum rating loss should be set to 15, since finishing last often only means every one just ganged on you and doesnt mean anything about your play. 2: Cap for second place: A minimum of 5 rating points should be added regardless of the relative ratings of the players for the player who finishes in 2nd place. It makes no sens for second place to lose rating. NB: in order to prevent rating inflation: any points added to a second place finisher or to a last place finisher should be substracted equallly among the other players. ie: I finishh last agsint weaker opponents and shoulld have lost 21 rating but only lose 15: the other 3 players each gain 2 points less than they would have. Or if a player finishes second and wins 5 points instead of ganing 2 points, all 3 other players make 1 point less. This way, the total rating changes in a given game stays the same. the only difference is that players who tend to often finish first second would be higher rated, and finishing last against lower rated opponents wouldnt punish as much. Hence, this should help having ratings that reflect playing strenght more accurately. TEAM 1 Loss cap: a maximum rating loss of 15 should be set independant of rating. NB. a maximum rating gain could also be set to 15, although this will not affect the top of the leaderboard since strong players will never get the opportunity to play for maximum rating gain. So I think it's better to not set a rating gain cap, as to allow new strong players to climb the rating latter quicker.

So I think there should be an option to block someone from being your teammate in 4PC. Indeed, there is a bunch of them which are trolls and/or insulting. I know insults can be reported but trolling can't really be, depending how it is done. In another point of view, some of them don't play the way I like and I think it could be nice to remove them from potential teammate (for example, refuse arrows etc).

Fastest FFA single king capture (3 moves or 10 plies): Fastest FFA two kings captured:

Since there are many people posting about opening theory's of 4PC, I thought of sharing mine too. ( Since I got jealous ) I name it blitzkrieg opening. ( Took it from internet the blitzkrieg ) Here is how lightning war ( blitzkrieg ) works.. [Variant "Teams"] 1. h2-h3 .. Na5-c6 .. g13-g12 .. Nn10-l9 Me and my friend use this opening commonly for team. Comments? Oh and by the way blue is me and green is my friend.

So far in my list of common or popular openings I have exactly four opening moves for Red.1. H2-H3 Opening Black This is by far the most popular moves, going by the number of variants. (I am hoping to soon have stats on this).1. F2-F4 Opening Black Bishop Long 1. H2-H4 Opening Black Long 1. G2-G3 Opening White I am interested in hearing from everyone as far as other openings... first move red openings altho giving me a continuation is fine... that they think is powerful enough to be considered a viable candidate.

I've learnt that the archives of previous games and messages are now publicly accessible by anyone. This is a blatant breach of privacy and it should've been worked through with great care. I urge the developers to remove the archives of games before the latest major update. Chat messages are intended for just the 4 participating players and not for anyone else, that is at least how I believed the policies work. Please do something. I have also notified the CHANGELOG group.

Another opening that seems to be popular in 4pc(teams). Comments? You like/dislike?(Administrators can feel very, very free to post stats!!) Mainline Valger variation or Sicilian-Nimzowitsch variation [Variant "Teams"] 1. h2-h3 .. b6-d6 .. h13-h12 .. Nn10-l9

Alexonety All the old player base and competitive play has gone . And if you have to wait 10 minutes just to play with players low rated it is not worth it. players like me and others that were able to get to top 10 when it was 1900 and 2000 rating playing now is just losing or maintaining rating so waiting so long for that. I honestly thought this game mode had great possibilities to grow and i am so disappointed with how it has become. @Alexonety you haven't played since June? Do you think the current players on the leaderboard are not competitive just because ratings are <1750? i think it makes sense. it's hard to get a really big edge in FFA and it seems like good FFA players are keeping games balanced as a strategy. what stops you from playing some games? Bill13Cooper aka Ne2willdo is playing (had official name change), as are others i see lots of 1600+ rated ffa players battling it out for the leaderboard in the late afternoon / us day/evening time

There used to be a beep when the delay got half way down, which would prompt me to make my move soon. It seems it was removed, and now I often don't notice when it's my move or that my time is ticking. Can yall bring that sound back? If some people don't want it, give them an option to turn it off.

I can't believe how much happy I am writing this! I always wanted to have a longest and the most tense game in 4PC ( Team ) and I did! Technically, me and my friend won because someone ran out of time. Is this the longest game in chess? ( I don't think so ) https://www.chess.com/4-player-chess?g=167708 I can't believe this happened. .

Where is the sound about ending time? May be it will be great to make sound when 15sec time is expired...

I think I read that archives are in the 'coming soon' stage... when is soon?

Watching a bunch of games and playing some, I have a comment that I would love to get responses to:It seems to me that the standard chess idea of 'control of the center' is null and void in 4pc(teams). However there does seem to be some very small idea of 'control of the corner'. I haven't really formulated my ideas yet, but pushing your rook pawn and/ then your knight pawn in support seems to be a 'thing'. It almost seems more tactical than strategic, however. It blocks a bishop attack, it moves a knight away, etc.But in 4pc(teams) this seems to me to be the only even close to strategic use of pawns that I have seen.Comments?

I cannot at all comprehend why there’s not either the option to play 4player with TWO minutes, ‘or’ the present only one minute when there is so much you have to constantly check, hopefully no one around while you’re playing causing a distraction, as well it’s only one single more minute, not much asking especially when it so is sensible and I’m rather confused why others haven’t brought such up, because, sure, I could bust out my moves attempting to hold minute longer, but adding just one more minute is certainly not asking too much, no? It’s one single minute..

It should be known to the experienced player that taking opportunities is a part of the game mechanic, however, there is a clear difference between this and blatant teaming. Blatant teaming is unacceptable.  (a screenshot is removed by chess.com AI admin or maybe hackers, who knows)

I always find people talking about things about chess but I do not find people talking about motivation like motivating people who are always afraid of losing. ( Sorry for my bad english, just came back from summer vacation ). Yes, tactics, tips and all that are important for you to learn chess so that you become a good player BUT I also find motivating your self also important. I always find people saying 'Man we are done','Should we resign?' and all that in 4PC. So I thought of writing this so that people can change their negative thoughts into positive thoughts in 4PC and in 2PC ( 2 player chess ). Here are some motivating lines I found on the internet. I do not own any motivating lines of this. “Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all.” – Mikhail Chigorin. “Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do; strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.” – Savielly Tartakower. “Chess doesn’t drive people mad, it keeps mad people sane.” – Bill Hartston. “I am convinced, the way one plays chess always reflects the player’s personality. If something defines his character, then it will also define his way of playing.” – Vladimir Kramnik. “Every chess master was once a beginner.” – Irving Chernev. “Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.” – Ralph Charell. I hope you consider this as a change in your life and in your game.

So, I was spectating a 4pc(teams) game. The screen says that 'only other spectators can see your comments'. So I was kind of under the impression that spectators could 'kibbitz' during the game... comment on what red should have done, and how yellow missed a mating opportunity... that kind of thing.But a couple of times now, after the game ends, one or more of the players have basically said 'spectators should not be speaking!!'.So... what's y'alls impression? I actually like it when spectators give (clean, intelligent) comments after a game. Helps my future game play to see that I missed an easy mate.Or are spectators to be like kids, 'seen but not heard'??

(A screenshot with obscene words was recognized and removed by Chess.com AI Admin.)

I want to say some things but the end of it is I don't think anything should be changed. In 4 Player with the larger board bishops are significantly more valuable than rooks. Rooks can only be used to defend for the first half of a game, and it's limited to just the pawn ahead of it and the piece to the side. Very difficult to maneuver them out from the corner to attack. It takes about 4 crucial tempo moves to get other pieces out of the way, shuffle the rook out and around. In the first ten or so moves of a game they are more like targets than functioning pieces. Bishops can be used right from the start to attack, to defend, and all throughout the rest of the game. So my feeling is like the point values should be changed to like Rooks 4 Bishops 5.. or Rooks 5 Bishops 6. Then I think Hold up NO Stupid! That's just adding another element of complication to a game which is already real hard to keep track of mentally. Just keep it even stevens like it is.thank you