Chess 2vs2

[Malcolm Lozada]

Howabout we have 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, etc. games? They will basically be "vote chess" games but for smaller number of people. The point is to have the ability to limit the number of people on each team to exactly 2 people, 3 people, etc.

I have a couple of good buddies that I play chess with occasionally on chess.com, but sometimes the whole competitive vibe can be too much between friends. Also, if your friend's rating is significantly higher than yours (or significantly lower) then the games are not as enjoyable.

On the other hand, in a 2v2 game, for instance, you will pair up with your friend to form a "team" and you will play against other 2-player teams. You would be able to create a new game for others to join or you might specify the ratings range for the other team, just like you would in a normal "single-player" match. If you've played online computer games like StarCraft, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

The ratings for each team can be maintained separately from your own personal ratings. Alternatively, maybe you could come up with some fancy math formula to calcuate your team rating based on your individual ratings.

The actual gameplay would consist of the team members suggesting moves, not unlike in a vote chess game (which I haven't played before) I'd imagine, and the team members will discuss the merits of each move and finally make the move based on the votes. Each team might assign different number of votes to each team member so that maybe a higher ranked player may get to cast more votes (or cast a tiebreaker vote if there's an even number of players in a team).

The heart of the game would be the discussions and the weighing of pros and cons of each possible move as team members try to come up with the best move. I personally think I would benefit greatly from being able to do this with my friends (or maybe random strangers) as I consider each move. This will be a very powerful learning tool for chess novices and experts alike because you can always learn new things from other people. It would also be a great way to introduce someone who's new to chess to the game since it is not as intimidating.

Like I said, I haven't tried the vote chess feature of chess.com, and playing 2v2 games might be technically possible even now, but I think if chess.com were to implement this as a separate feature with all the right tools and features specifiaclly designed for these types of games (means to efficiently compare/discuss moves, voting mechanism, etc.), I believe it'll be a big hit. It would certainly be one more thing that would set online chess experience apart from conventional table-top chess.

Another variant that is interesting (though mosly sold as a novelty game) is a game produced called Chess4. This game has an 8x8 playing board but has 4 sets of 2x8 rows for setting up four sets of pices, allowing four players to play chess at one time. All standard rules of chess apply and play goes clockwise from the player with the White pieces. promotions still occur on the 8th rank yet castling is done in the home rows. You can play as teams, placing an experienced and noice player together against the same, play an every man for himself or play a 2 or 3 player game with the unused sets being rogue armies. The possiblilty exist to create team attacks and even triple checks on the board. A checkmated player does not signify the immedite end to the game, but rather the remaining pieces can be used as rogue forces by any player remaining with the provision that if you move a rogue on one move, you must move a home force piece the next. I can only imagine what a Bughouse game would look like in this variant but it takes the tactical and positonal play to a whole new level.

There is this chess variant in India and we call it 'Supply'. Its a 2 vs 2 game with 2 boards and 2 players of a team take alternate colors. The standard rules of chess apply, but with one twist. If your team member captures a piece on his board he can give it to you and since you are your teammate's opponent's color, you can introduce that piece on your board and continue playing, while introducing the piece on your board. There are few rules like no checking and no pawn promotion by putting it on the last rank. The first team to get checkmated loses. This mod of chess is really fun. I don't know if people play this outside India, and what it is called. I would like to play it online with my friends. Do you know any place online where I can play this variant?

I really like this 2 vs 2. Maybe I have had luck with my teammates, but so far I have not gotten a teammate that is silent and ignore chat (which imo would ruin the game if it happened too often with a random partner).

One minor thing, I believe only one player is given 20 points when a player resigns. Points don't really matter, but it doesn't make sense to only give one player 20 points if you want to show the points after the game.

Glad to hear it! To avoid complications we are using the same rating for both four player modes but I agree it should have its own rating soon. Calculations for team rating is based on the average of your team's rating. we might end up removing the points altogether for this mode but that remains to be seen.

All valid points. But if we compare it to bughouse, the stronger player in the team will still have an initiative but as they are playing on different boards, its harder for the stronger player to take control and teamwork is needed. In this variant it's turn based (so once the player makes a move he can help the other unlike bughouse where there are seperate timers) and importantly they also share the same board. This means that the stronger player's ideas and motives will have a large emphasis on the games so its possible that in many games it will pretty much be the stronger player making most of the moves like a 1 v 1 maybe.

Interesting decision to play until one player is mated rather than until a team is fully eliminated. I'm not sure which makes for a better game; the two options result in slightly different strategies. This version has the advantage that defeated players aren't left waiting with nothing to do while hoping that their partner manages to save a win, which is probably good enough.

Brief strategy thoughts: if Player 1 creates a threat to Player 4, Player 2 MUST do something to prevent Player 3 exploiting that. If Player 1 puts Player 4 in check, Player 3 must not be allowed to threaten Player 4's queen. Teamwork is important here.

Also, since the game ends when one player is eliminated, communicating with your partner to gang up on one of your opponents is a potential strategy so long as you can avoid getting eaten from behind by the target's partner.

I agree. But we definitely need a separate score for team 4 player chess. Who else thinks so too? Because it is different. Way more dynamic than singles 4 player chess. I don't want to lose my rating because some idiot doesn't know how to get his king to safety.

Its primary goal is to allow two persons to play a round of chess, no matter whether they happen to be at the same location or on a different continent. It's designed to be platform independent and to run on every computer or smart phone equipped with a modern web browser and thus enabling people everywhere around the globe to play chess, at home and on the go, online and offline.

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