In the first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone, towards the end, Harry, Ron and Hermione have to win a game of chess while they themselves have to act as pieces. Now, I'm no chess master, but I know that some strategies involve actively sacrificing important pieces on the board in order to secure an overall better board position, or even secure a mate.
In the movie game however, 3 of the pieces are living people, making effectively 4 pieces "of kingly importance" versus only 1 on the opposing team.
My question is, how much of a handicap would it be to have 2, 3 or 4 pieces that are "of kingly importance" while still retaining their original move pattern, and which positions should I put myself and my two friends in (excluding the king) to minimize the risk of harm, while still having a meaningful set of pieces I can either attack with or sacrifice?