Rules — Three-Player Chess Arena

Game Rules

Board

Regular hexagon, 96 cells (quadrilaterals), 2 colors (light/dark). 12 columns (A–L), rows 1–12.

Three segments of 32 cells each:

Segment	Player	Columns	Rows
1	White	A–H	1–4
2	Black	A–D, I–L	5–8
3	Red	E–H, I–L	9–12

Invalid cells: E5–H8, I1–L4, A9–D12 (48 combinations do not exist).

Bridges (columns connecting two segments): A–D: White↔Black, E–H: White↔Red, I–L: Black↔Red.

Starting Position

Each player: 1 King, 1 Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights, 8 Pawns.

Row order (left-to-right from player's view): R N B Q K B N R. Pawns on next row inward.

Player	Piece Row	Pawn Row	King	Queen
White	1	2	E1	D1
Black	8	7	I8	D8
Red	12	11	I12	E12

Turn Order

White → Black → Red → White → … (clockwise). Eliminated players are skipped.

Pieces

Piece	Movement
King	1 cell in any direction. Cannot move into check.
Queen	Any distance along orthogonal or diagonal lines.
Rook	Any distance along orthogonal lines (rows/columns).
Bishop	Any distance along diagonal lines. Same color only.
Knight	L-shape (2+1 orthogonal). Can jump over pieces.
Pawn	Forward 1 cell along column. Captures diagonally forward.

Pawn directions: Each player's 8 pawns split into 2 groups of 4, heading toward different opponents via their column's bridge.

Special Rules

Double move: Pawn on starting row can advance 1 or 2 cells (both must be free).
En passant: If a pawn double-moves past an enemy pawn's capture square, the enemy can capture it on the next turn.
Promotion: Pawn reaching the opponent's base row must promote to Q, R, B, or N.
Castling: King moves 2 cells toward rook along base row. Neither may have moved. King cannot pass through check. O-O (short), O-O-O (long).
Triple junction: At cells D4, E4, D5, I5, E9, I9 — pawns can capture in 3 diagonal directions.

Checkmate & Piece Inheritance

When a player is checkmated:

Their king is removed from the board.
All other pieces transfer to the mating player.
The new owner controls pieces of both colors (one move per turn, any color).
Friendly pieces of different colors block each other but cannot capture each other.

Win Condition

Checkmate both opponents. First checkmate captures their pieces; second checkmate wins the game.

Draws

Threefold repetition (claim optional).
75 moves without capture or pawn move.
Insufficient material (K vs K, K+B vs K, K+N vs K).

Stalemate

A player with no legal moves (not in check) skips their turn until a move becomes available. Stalemate is not a draw condition in the 3-player variant.