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How to Play 3 Player Chess

It's the weekend. Tom is hanging out with his chess fanatic pals Dick and Harry. They only have one chessboard. What to do? They could play one on one, and leave the third as a spectator, which is not very satisfying for the spectator. They could play two against one, which is not a fair arrangement if the players are roughly equal in ability. Or they could play a three-player game. Here's one way to do that.

Things You'll Need

Chessboard Full set of chess pieces

Instructions

- 1
  
  White always moves first, but any player can start. We will have Tom make the first move.
- 2
  
  Dick moves a black piece in response.
- 3
  
  Harry, rather than Tom, makes the next move for white. Each player has now made one move.
- 4
  
  Tom makes the next move for black. In effect, he is playing against his opening move for white.
- 5
  
  Dick makes the next move for white. In effect, he is playing against his opening move for black.
- 6
  
  Harry makes the next move for black. Like Tom and Dick, he is playing against his earlier move.
- 7
  Repeat steps one through six until the end of the game. Each player trades off on moves, in the process playing both sides of the board, against the other two, and against themselves.

Chess & Checkers