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Yalta. A three player chess variant. (Cells: 96) [All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Sam wrote on Fri, Jun 28, 2002 12:01 AM UTC:Sam = Stupid! wrote on Tue, Oct 29, 2002 02:31 AM UTC:Sam are you stupid! He said he found it in a book!
Anonymous wrote on Sun, Dec 8, 2002 03:35 AM UTC:I got a similar chess set, nice wood board and pieces, made in Poland. The rules that came with the set were slightly different. Red starts, and chooses which side the queens are placed on. The first to checkmate either of the other two players wins and the game is over. The other two both lose. Since you not only have to defend your own king, but stop either of the other players from checmating each other, I would stay away from the beers.
Jianiyng Ji wrote on Sat, Dec 14, 2002 10:14 PM UTC:The last comment is quite interesting. Would probably make a great suggestion for rule 0 for 3 player games. It prevents that great bane of games for greater than 2 players, especially 3 players, 2 against 1 senario.
I don't think the 2-vs-1 scenario is all that big of a problem in 3-player games, since if one player begins to pull ahead, it only becomes natural for the other two to ally against the leader. One problem in 3-player strategy games I've seldom seen solved though is the kingmaker problem. Suppose one player is losing hopelessly, but is either able to hurt one of the other players enough on the way out to give the other one the game, or is able to determine the winner more directly (by deciding whose mating trap to walk his king into...). Then the winner ends up being decided not by who played better, but by whom the _loser_ was feeling better disposed towards.
Bryan wrote on Mon, Feb 3, 2003 01:58 AM UTC:Where can you get one of these chess boards? and is it called Yalta by everyone?
Phil Brady wrote on Tue, Feb 4, 2003 01:48 PM UTC:You can find a PDF with a piece of the board at http://www.ee0r.com/tri-chess/ (Look for the section titled 'What You Need'.) The page is about a chess-like game using Icehouse pieces, and so the board isn't colored quite right, but it's still useable. Be sure to look at the very bottom--there's an interesting way of making a five-player board with the PDF.
This game called Yalta like city in Crimea (Ukraina) or what?
I suppose the name refers to the meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin in Yalta during World War II.
Having played a lot of this game, I have some rule clarifications the way we play them. 1) Knights. Move diagonal + straight or straight + diagonal, but do not land on a square touching the square they started from. From c4 there are 9 possible moves (the usual 8 on the red-green board + blue d4), from d4 there are 10 (the usual 8 on the red-green board and blue c4 & d3). 2) The king is the only piece able to move to the square of opposite colour in the center (red d4 to blue e4). 3) Tournament scoring: Whenever a player is checkmated this ends the game. If he is in check by one player, score 2 - 1 - 0, if he is in check by both opponents, score 3/2 - 3/2 - 0. If a draw is reached, score 1 - 1 - 1.
I last saw this game some 20 years ago, and may even have played it myself. There was also a 4-player version but this is even better as every pair of players is equally opposed to each other.
Fun game, for those who want an easy to print board you can download a 4 x A4 pdf from here: http://www.shef.ac.uk/kevingillan/journal.htm cheers!
Cees Kleinveld wrote on Sat, May 27, 2006 12:56 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★I discovered this beautiful game somewhere on a marketplace in Budapest. You can still buy it(2006)! It is a real challenge to play the game since there are all unexpected moves and possibilities. Moves of the bishop split up as they go though the center. I would like to have the original rules how to play the game properly. We play the game until two players are checkmated. We leave the pieces of the first loser on the board. Since they have no king, they have no effect. You can capture them if you like.
I've just started playing this game and it is a hoot. One decision we came to quickly is to dispense with the whole notion of check and check mate. They don't exist. A player loses when his/her king is captured. Why? Suppose player1 moves a piece which exposes player3's king to a piece of player2's. Now it's player2's move. Can he take the king? Of course he can and thus ends the game for player3. Not allowing player2 to capture the king would be silly. Try this. I'm in check, but another player is going to intervene before my king can be captured. Do I have to move out of check? Again only one answer makes logical sense. Of course I really have to trust the alliance to let my king wave in the wind like that. There are a thousand variations on this, but they all boil down to the same thing: you take the king or you don't take the king; there is no check. With the exception of not being allowed to castle through check, everything else about it can be explained as mere convention. Checkmate is nothing more than the king being captured on the next turn. Check is nothing more than warning the other person that this is about to happen. I think the game of chess would work perfectly fine if the conventions of check and checkmate had never become common.
i play yalta with friends who are very good chess players and we're lot of fun and great pleasure to do it
this game is really different than classical chess but very interresting cause of many combinations and psychologic job
during the game we speak very much for mental intoxication
rules are ending amazing cases and sometimes we scratch our heads
the most important thing the timing of actions when you're checked by the first,the second is free to attack any piece cause you should face to the check before but sometimes he must defend you to avoid mate,your worst ennemy for the king is always the first and the second is the queen's killer
anyway take care of knights (crazy displacements near the center) thirty five years ago i've drawn many plates of three player's chess plates before it was really created and sold and the more useful was more rounded in the center(best global viewing of lines and columns) prefer hex plates than square
it is at last an excellent game ,try it and you'll be addict (or crazy;-)
ps sorry for my poor english cause i'am old french player
here is another kind of plate maybe better for some people
it's up to you (so you can make it yourself according your favorite ways)
mine is nearly the same as Daniel Lindstrvm's model
http://www.cie-maxi-jeux.com/animations-prestations/catalogue-jeux/jeux-en-bois-geants/jeux-reflexion-strategie/jeu-d-echecs-a-3---yalta.html
ps for moderate : i'am not a commercial and have no interrests of any kind in this sociéty it's just for example
I think, any game with symmetric initial setup can be played on such boards. Also it's possible to make boards not only for 3 players game, but for any number of player (with more squares: another 1 player - another 32 squares).
Regarding variants with even numbers of both ranks and files I agree with the previous comment. Odd numbers of either are slightly more complex. Nine-file variant can however be adapted for 4 players with each facing each across 3 files, as in my Flyover Shogi and Flyover Xiang Qi.
I've been thinking, it's problably crazy, but if we make a 9x10 board we could make a FIDE x Shogi x Xiang Qi. The most significant change would be another queen to FIDE. Shogi wouls promote on any three last ranks and Xiang Qi would be the same. Hugs.
I was thinking of posting similar game, but instead second queen, FIDE had cardinal (B+N) and pawn may promote to marshal (R+N) and camel ((1,3) leaper). Plus, as Xiang-qi looks as weakest player, it have additional two pieces: it moves as camel-mao (two squares orthogonally, when diagonally outwards) on home territorry, but it moves as rook on FIDE and shogi territrries (based on additional pieces from original 3-players XQ variants). When shogi captures pieces of other teams, it can be dropped, and it transforms into corresponding shogi piece (cannon and marshal transforms into shogi rooks, cardinals and vaos (see below) transforms into shogi bishops, camels and XQ additional pieces transforms into piece, Charles Gilman calls 'hump' - leaps 3 forward and 1 sideways on same move, promotes to gold general). Victory is achivied by capturing both hostile kings. XQ king may capture other kings either by rook rifle-capture, or move like rook to it's square (when cannot go to palace again. advisors can move out of palace and elepants cross river when, but not return back). All pieces conquered player had, now changes sides and transforms into corresponding piece (cardinals and shogi bishops transforms into vaos, diagonal cannons). Promoted shogi pieces become unpromoted, but FIDE pawns don't (and they also don't demote when captured by shogis, i forgot to say it). Turn order: Xiang-qi-Shogi-FIDE. In beggining, XQ cannons can capture FIDE knight or shogi bishop (second is not recommended, it will give advantge to shogi). I also have team variant of this (it's not complete, i still have to think about it): 2 players are team, but third player have strong king: FIDE chess - maharaja (R+N+B), XQ - yitong (R+XQ horse+cannon), Shogi - lion (see description of chu shogi or piececlopedia). What do you think about it?
Its very different from my original idea, but go for it! Do it! Its very interesting. Hugs.
I too had a similar idea but never finalised the rules enough to post it. My idea was four ranks on the FIDE side, five each on the Shogi and XQ, FIDE facing each of the other two on four files, and Shogi facing XQ on five files. XQ would certainly move first.
The board game Yalta was created shortly after the 1945 conference and supposedly gave a better feel for how the conference went than any of the commentaries on the meeting. The treating of millions of lives as though they were pawns on a chess board, plus the continually changing sides ... (Gratuitous political comment deleted - Editor.)
A correspondence Yalta game is being played at Rybka Rorum, we're playing with the rule 'the first player to checkmate another player wins'.
Yalta 3 Players Chess: TheHug Vs. tomski1981 Vs. Vytron
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