Four-way Chess

I’ve been toying with an idea for a while regarding chess with more than two players.  I think I see a fairly simple way to play chess with four players.

Basic Rules

The board is pretty simple, take a standard board and put a half-board on each side such that the checkerboard pattern is continued, as shown in the diagram.

Each player has a different color set of pieces, arranged normally in the two outer-most ranks.  This arrangement gives each player two additional ranks to maneuver in before entering the mosh pit that the center board will become.  Pieces move according to normal rules, from the perspective of the player (thus, the player in the West position advances toward the East… but the East is not his only opponent).  Kings are removed when they are checkmated; play continues until only one king remains on the board.
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