Chess for play by two, three or four persons

A chess game is provided for play by two, three or four persons played according to the conventional rules of chess as to movement and capturing of pieces, castling, check and checkmate. As in conventional chess, each player possesses an initial force of a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, two rooks and eight pawns. The game is played on a checkerboard having two hundred eight playing squares arranged in a central playing array of twelve bilaterally arranged rows having twelve squares per row and bordered by four smaller staging arrays, each of the staging arrays having eight bilaterally arranged rows of two squares per row. One of each of the four staging arrays is longitudinally centered on and contiguous with each of the four sides of the central playing array. Two of the four staging arrays have squares of different colors from each other. The players may play as individuals, or they may play as partners, including two playing as partners against a third or four playing as two sets of partners against one another.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates generally to board games and more specifically to an 
improved chess game for play by two, three or four persons. The rules of 
chess as to movement and capturing of pieces, castling, check and 
checkmate all apply. The players may play as individuals, or they may play 
as partners, including two playing as partners against a third or four 
playing as two sets of partners against one another. 
Board games have been known for centuries, examples of which include go, 
backgammon, checkers and chess. These games are played by two players and 
involve considerable strategy. Chess and checkers are played on a 
conventional square checkerboard having sixty-four square playing spaces 
in eight rows of eight squares each. In chess, each of the two players 
possess an initial force of a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, two 
rooks, and eight pawns. The object of chess is to place the opponent's 
king in checkmate. 
2. Description of the Relevant Literature 
A number of inventors have designed board games for play by more than two 
persons. These games all employ a checkered board and can be divided into 
two broad categories, checker-type games and chess-type games. For the 
most part, prior art games have accommodated additional players by 
altering the shape of the conventional sixty-four square checkerboard 
and/or by adding playing squares. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,555,937 
and 2,045,339, French Pat. No. 873,035, and Italian Pat. No. 489,702 all 
disclose checker-type games for play by up to four players wherein the 
shape of the board and the number of squares are significantly altered. 
Examples of four person chess-type games may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 
3,843,130, 4,147,360 and 4,190,254 as well as British Pat. No. 1,030,519 
and French Pat. No. 1,165,694. Whitney (U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,130) alters 
the size of the conventional chessboard and adds two royalty pieces to 
each player's set of playing pieces. Also, due to the arrangement of 
additional playing squares, opposing queens and kings are initially placed 
in opposite rows, unlike conventional chess. Bailey (U.S. Pat. No. 
4,147,360) also increases the number of playing pieces and playing 
squares. Leeds (U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,254) increases the number of playing 
squares and curves the paths of movement of the playing pieces. Toft 
(British Pat. No. 1,030,519) increases the number of playing squares and 
alters the direction of movement of the pawns. Guerz (French Pat. No. 
1,165,694) increases the number of playing squares, however, a problem 
associated with Guerz, as well as Whitney, is that a player may find that 
the initial movement of one of the two pawns closest the player by an 
opponent on either side either blocks the player's initial movement of his 
lateral pawns or places them, upon movement, behind the opponent's. This 
removes some opening moves from players following the opening player and 
places players familiar with conventional chess in unfamiliar situations. 
For example, Whitney, places four sets of chess pieces around a 
conventional chessboard such that pawns may not be moved initially without 
ending up behind a pawn previously moved by an opponent, altering the 
strategy of play significantly. Features of several other prior art 
devices also inherently change the strategy of play. For example, Leeds 
places the pieces on curved paths, which impair the visualization of 
future movement of the pieces by persons familiar with standard chess 
play; Bailey also adds additional pieces, changing the strategy of play; 
and Toft alters the movement of pawns to avoid the problems of pawn 
movement associated with Whitney. 
Since prior art four-person chess games significantly alter the strategy of 
play, it would be desirable to provide a four-person chess game such that 
conventional chess strategy is substantially retained. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A chess game is provided for play by two, three or four persons played 
according to the conventional rules of chess as to movement and capturing 
of pieces, castling, check and checkmate. As in conventional chess, each 
player possesses an initial force of a king, a queen, two bishops, two 
knights, two rooks and eight pawns. The game is played on a checkerboard 
having two hundred eight playing squares arranged in a central playing 
array of twelve bilaterally arranged rows having twelve squares per row 
and bordered by four smaller staging arrays, each of the staging arrays 
having eight bilaterally arranged rows of two squares per row. One of each 
of the four staging arrays longitudinally centered on and contiguous with 
each of the four sides of the central playing array. The players may play 
as individuals, or they may play as partners, including two playing as 
partners against a third or four playing as two sets of partners against 
one another. 
The present invention is an improvement over prior art devices in that 
persons skilled in conventional chess will find that conventional chess 
strategy applies to the subject device. This is accomplished by providing 
a playing surface adapted for play by two, three or four persons while 
retaining the basic components of conventional chess. The conventional 
rules of chess as to movement and capturing of pieces, castling, check and 
checkmate apply. Each player begins play with the familiar set of chess 
pieces; eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, one queen, and 
one king. Also, the initial placement of the chess pieces on the playing 
board is according to conventional play; that is, opposing kings and 
queens are found in the same row. 
While conventional chess strategy is applicable to the present invention, 
the game is enhanced by the additional dimension of a player finding 
himself in jeopardy by more than one opponent. Also, due to the design of 
the game board, each player is free to make opening moves with his lateral 
pawns without finding himself either blocked by or moving behind an 
opponent's pawns. 
The exchange of pawns for captured pieces is facilitated in the preferred 
embodiment of the subject invention by providing each player with a keep, 
wherein pieces captured by a player are placed for display to the other 
players.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
I. Game Apparatus 
The apparatus of the invention, as generally described above, comprises a 
game board and four sets of playing pieces, each set being distinguishable 
one from another and having eight pawns, two rooks, two knights, two 
bishops, one queen and one king. 
Referring to FIG. 1, the game board 1 of the preferred embodiment is 
depicted having two hundred eight playing squares arranged in a central 
playing array 3 of twelve bilaterally arranged rows of twelve squares per 
row. Central playing array 3 is bordered by four smaller staging arrays 5, 
each of the staging arrays having eight bilaterally arranged rows of two 
squares per row. One of each of arrays 5 is longitudinally centered on and 
contiguous with each of the four sides of central playing array 3. 
The squares of central playing array 3 are alternating black and white in 
coloration. The checkerboard pattern is carried on into contiguous staging 
arrays 5 except that one of the two colors in each of arrays 5 is the same 
as the color of the playing pieces placed on that array at the start of 
play, as depicted in FIG. 2. For example, in the preferred embodiment, two 
of the staging arrays 5 are black and white in coloration, the third is 
black and red in coloration and the fourth is blue and white in 
coloration. 
As described previously, in the preferred embodiment the individual pieces 
of each set of playing pieces are distinguished from those of an 
opponent's by coloration. The four sets of playing pieces employed in the 
preferred embodiment are colored black, white, red and blue. 
Play is enhanced in the preferred embodiment by providing each player with 
a keep 7 for the placement of captured pieces. In the preferred 
embodiment, keep 7 is located to the right of each player and colored the 
same as each players' playing pieces. 
II. Rules of Play 
The rules of play of the preferred embodiment of the present invention are 
those of conventional chess with respect to movement and capturing of 
pieces, castling, check and checkmate except for the following 
modifications: 
(a) The order of play is the opening player, the player directly opposite 
the opening player, the player to the left of the opening play and finally 
the player to the right of the opening player; 
(b) During individual play, any player may be placed check or checkmate by 
any of the other players individually or in combination; 
(c) During individual play, when a player is placed in checkmate, the 
player's pieces are removed from the board and play continues until only 
one player remains or a stalemate results; 
(d) During partnership play, one or both partners may place either or both 
the opposing players in check or checkmate; 
(e) During partnership play, when one player of a team is placed in 
checkmate, the player in checkmate removes his pieces from the playing 
area and play continues until both partners of the team have been 
checkmated; 
(f) Pawns may be exchanged for captured pieces than pawns by moving a pawn 
to the opposite end of the playing board from which the pawn began play, 
and the pawn may then be exchanged for any piece captured by any player or 
either player of a team; and 
(g) When a player captures an opponent's piece, the captured piece is 
placed in the keep of the capturing player. 
While the staging arrays, sets of playing pieces and keeps are 
distinguished one from another by coloration in the preferred embodiment, 
it will be obvious to one skilled in the art that such distinction may be 
obtained in a variety of other ways. The black, white, red and blue 
coloration of the preferred embodiment is offered by way of illustration 
and not limitation. 
The foregoing rules and description of preferred embodiments are provided 
for illustration. The true scope of the invention is defined by the 
following claims.