4 Player Chess

I can't really follow your game without a diagram and unfortunately that is not a feature (yet).

Avoiding trades is certainly the right strategy. I actually still quite often go for early queen promotion when I see no one else going for it. It does require good board vision though and you should know safety always comes first.

I have made some writings on general tips for this variant. Especially my text about positioning (backstabber, friend, enemy) some members have found very helpful (someone for example said it helped them go from 1400-1500 to 1650-1700). Here they are:

Beginner tips and fundamentals

Your best friend, backstabber and worst enemy

Basic strategy

Personally I am rated about 1660 right now, so I have some idea what I am talking about (but of course there are still many players better than me and I am still learning stuff).

Real Chess 4 or 4 player chess or 4 way chess doesn't have that resigning glitch where if you resign, you win. Someone has to fix that glitch...

What about an amount of points for last player standing? It would limit the ability to resign and win.

Personally I don't like it. I've played it a number of times and find there's far too much luck involved to be enjoyable. There's luck if a player has a really bad player on his left who makes terrible moves and blunders pieces allowing that player to gain easy points. It's pure luck if another player leaves the game or resigns, often allowing the next player to grab their King and get an easy 20 points. On that particular point, I think leaving the King live and available for capture is just a stupid idea. Yes, it's fun. But no, it's crazy and just gifts someone points without any skill involved. Sorry. Maybe fun, but not for me. It's not chess.