In Austin, our club has been playing a Dessau variant for about a decade. While there are many variants of four handed chess, here are the rules that we've been playing with: • queens start on white • checkmate happens immediately, but can be broken by the partner or released. ° While in checkmate, pieces are invulnerable and their turn is skipped ° If checkmate is broken, invulnerability lasts until they've moved • technical mate occurs when the king could otherwise be legally taken • promotions happen on an opponents back rank ° same pawn movement, so this requires 3 captures. En passant still valid • You must checkmate both opponents
This results in a fast paced, nuanced game. I would especially like to advocate for the chess.com checkmate mechanics being implemented this way, as the depths it adds to the game is great. You can have poisoned mates, for example.
In Austin, our club has been playing a Dessau variant for about a decade. While there are many variants of four handed chess, here are the rules that we've been playing with:
• queens start on white
• checkmate happens immediately, but can be broken by the partner or released.
° While in checkmate, pieces are invulnerable and their turn is skipped
° If checkmate is broken, invulnerability lasts until they've moved
• technical mate occurs when the king could otherwise be legally taken
• promotions happen on an opponents back rank
° same pawn movement, so this requires 3 captures. En passant still valid
• You must checkmate both opponents
This results in a fast paced, nuanced game. I would especially like to advocate for the chess.com checkmate mechanics being implemented this way, as the depths it adds to the game is great. You can have poisoned mates, for example.