A new, different (chess) game

I wasn't sure what category this should be put it. I didn't find any truly relevant thread so I created a new one for this post.

Chess, in its traditional form, is an age old logical game with the objective of defeating your opponent on the battlefield, or at least not lose. You manage this by making logical calculations (calculating your opponents moves), and outwitting them. The very fundament of this game is, then, that one should be able to calculate the opponent's move, which is possible because both players know the other player's objectives. This is, however, not the case in 4 player chess.

In 4 player chess, the objectives are different, the nature of the gameplay is different, and of course, the number of players is different. The combination of these factors result in that the objectives are not only different, but also not consistent between different players or different parts of the game. In the thread Resignation used as a tactic?, I discussed the fact that it's not always a player's objective to capture enemy pieces in 4-player chess, because these pieces may be used their own benefit against a third player with more points. Likewise, it's not always in a player's interest to win the game because that does not ensure the most points and thus not victory. (The last player standing may have one of the least points of the game, thus losing). 4 player chess opens up for many different strategies that all lead to victory but in very different ways (especially if we incorporate a chat into the game so that communication channels and pacts may be struck).

I have played 4 player chess for one day and I am in love with it. I have always been drawn to strategic and logical games with social aspects. With the added amount of players, the game becomes more challenging, more fun, and the game recieves more potential. I want us to continue playing and developing 4 player chess, but I want us to do it with the fundamental insight that it's not the same thing as chess - so we must not treat it as if it was. In fact, I believe 4 player chess might be the least chess-esque thing on chess.com, but I think it is a new, bold idea which can become an amazing, fun and challenging new game.

I have stated this before in other threads but I believe this statement deserves to become a discussion in the larger chess community. I also believe this is a very important discussion to have at the early stages of the development of 4 player chess, because we are yet to shape the player mechanics and player culture around the mechanics of this game.

Do you agree with me? Why/Why not? Do you have anything to add? I'd like to hear any views on this.

That's pretty accurate. Good job.

Also, I do agree with you. Anything that is not chess (like a variant, or something else like sleeping) is simply not chess.

I will incorporate this at my motto for this thread. #SleepingIsNotChess

Figures.

Very interesting reflection
By my side I can start saying I must admit I don't not completely agree with you for two main reasons:
1) At this stage, it seems to me (I played like 20 games, so far) that not all the people trying the game have all the rules clear in their mind. Naturally, this is neither a polemic nor a problem! - but this brings in an increase of the variables that not depends on the game itself. The point, in my opinion is that the more people will be used to play the 4PC, the less this "variable" will impact the games.
2) I perfectly agree with you that 4PC is not chess, but for my experience I can say that we must reimnd ourselves we are still playing chess! I mean: I'm winning a lot of games because I see a lot of persons that forget the basic tactics of the chess. E.g. a lot of people just try to run as much as possible to promote pawn, forgetting all the other "normal" issues.
So, I would emend your indisputable sentence in: it's not the same thing as chess, but still chess.
By the way, I love this variant and I do think that the implementation of the possibility to play game 2 vs 2 would be an excellent source of fun (I've already state this in the appropriate thread).
Bye everyone

4 player chess is like chess, but it's not TRUE chess. It's only like chess, but it still is not chess.

Ashmage: yes indeed. I'm just saying that if you have a look to some matches, you can see people loosing because they forget that rules are actually the ones of chess. And some tactics and strategies of chess should be applied even when you play 4PC.

Queen takes pawn mates king?  KingXQueen other time?