The Chess Variant Pages

Version with graphics.

The ASCII-displays of the moves were obtained by modifying these displays from Dave McCooey's description of his hexagonal chess variant. Dave also informed me about an error in an earlier version.

Hexagonal chess

In the years, several variants of chess have been proposed, that are played on a board, whose fields are not squares but hexagons. The most widely known and played of these games is described here. The game has been invented by Wladyslaw Glinksi, from Poland. in 1936. The description of the game here is based on the description in Pritchard's Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, where more information on this, and other hexagonal chess variants can be found. Another hexagonal variant is Dave McCooey's hexagonal chess.

Pritchard tells, that Glinski's hexagonal chess is played by over half-a-million people, mainly in Eastern Europe. The game is probably also sometimes called Polish chess. There exists an international hexagonal chess federation, and European and World championships have been played.

Anyone who has more information on this game, please email me!

Rules

The game is played on a hexagonal board, with in total 91 hexes. Hexes are colored by three different colors. The orthodox chess pieces (with an extra bishop and pawn for each player) are used, but naturally, their moves are different (but arguably similar in nature to the game on the square board).

Opening setup

The opening setup is displayed below.

                            BLACK
                             ___
                         ___/ B \___
                     ___/ Q \___/ K \___
                 ___/ N \___/ B \___/ N \___
             ___/ R \___/   \___/   \___/ R \___
         ___/ P \___/   \___/ B \___/   \___/ P \___
        /   \___/ P \___/   \___/   \___/ P \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ P \___/   \___/ P \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ P \___/ P \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/ P \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/ p \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ p \___/ p \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ p \___/   \___/ p \___/   \___/
        /   \___/ p \___/   \___/   \___/ p \___/   \
        \___/ p \___/   \___/ b \___/   \___/ p \___/
            \___/ r \___/   \___/   \___/ r \___/
                \___/ n \___/ b \___/ n \___/
                    \___/ q \___/ k \___/
                        \___/ b \___/
                            \___/

                            WHITE

Here K, Q, R, B, N, P stand for King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, kNight, Pawn; upper case letters stand for black pieces, lower case letters for white pieces.

Coloring of the board

The board is colored using three colors. The choice of colors varies, but it is best if one is white. The following diagram shows the color arrangement:

                             ___
                         ___/@@@\___
                     ___/   \@@@/   \___
                 ___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___
             ___/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\___
         ___/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \___
        /+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\
        \+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/
        /   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \
        \___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/
        /@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\
        \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/
        /+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\
        \+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/
        /   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \
        \___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/
        /@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\
        \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/
            \___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/+++\___/
                \+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/@@@\+++/
                    \@@@/   \@@@/   \@@@/
                        \___/+++\___/
                            \+++/

Moves

The pieces move according to the following diagrams:

                             ___
    KING:                ___/   \___
                     ___/   \___/   \___
                 ___/   \___/   \___/   \___
             ___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___
         ___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ * \___/ K \___/ * \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
            \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                    \___/   \___/   \___/
                        \___/   \___/
                            \___/

                             ___
    ROOK:                ___/ * \___
                     ___/   \___/   \___
                 ___/   \___/ * \___/   \___
             ___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___
         ___/   \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/   \___
        / * \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/ * \
        \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/
        /   \___/ * \___/   \___/   \___/ * \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/ R \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/
        /   \___/ * \___/   \___/   \___/ * \___/   \
        \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/
        / * \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/ * \
        \___/   \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/   \___/
            \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/
                    \___/   \___/   \___/
                        \___/ * \___/
                            \___/

                             ___
    BISHOP:              ___/   \___
                     ___/   \___/   \___
                 ___/   \___/   \___/   \___
             ___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___
         ___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/ * \___/ * \___/ B \___/ * \___/ * \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/
            \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                    \___/   \___/   \___/
                        \___/   \___/
                            \___/

                             ___
    QUEEN:               ___/ * \___
                     ___/   \___/   \___
                 ___/   \___/ * \___/   \___
             ___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___
         ___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___
        / * \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/ * \
        \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/
        /   \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/ * \___/ * \___/ Q \___/ * \___/ * \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/
        /   \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \
        \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/
        / * \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/ * \
        \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/
            \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/
                    \___/   \___/   \___/
                        \___/ * \___/
                            \___/

                             ___
    KNIGHT:              ___/   \___
                     ___/   \___/   \___
                 ___/   \___/   \___/   \___
             ___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___
         ___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/ * \___/   \___/   \___/ * \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/ N \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/ * \___/   \___/   \___/ * \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ * \___/ * \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
            \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                    \___/   \___/   \___/
                        \___/   \___/
                            \___/

                             ___
    PAWN:                ___/   \___
    (x = capture)    ___/   \___/   \___
    (* = move)   ___/   \___/   \___/   \___
             ___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___
         ___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/ * \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/ x \___/ x \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/ P \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
        /   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \
        \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
            \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                \___/   \___/   \___/   \___/
                    \___/   \___/   \___/
                        \___/   \___/
                            \___/

In the case of bishop move and `farther away king move', pieces on the fields of different color that are jumped are not an obstacle. So, in the opening setup, the king is defending all three bishops, and even the bishop on the lowest position can move (effectively jumping over another bishop and queen or king). The same is true for the `diagonal' move of the queen. Note that the hexes with the same color, that are `passed' with the diagonal move, should indeed be empty.

The queen has the combined moves of rook and bishop. Pawns move without taking one hex in the direction of the opponents side. They take diagonally forward. This is rather similar to pawns in the orthodox chessgame. On their first move, pawns may move forward two hexes, and can be taken en-passant when doing so. Additionally, when by taking, a pawn arrives on an initial position of another pawn (of the same player), he retains the right for the double forward move. (The logic behind this rule is that a pawn, when taking in this way, has not advanced towards the end rank. An additional benefit is that the rule makes it unnecessary to keep track which pawns have moved and which have not.)

Other rules

Pawns promote when they move to one of the eleven hexes at the opponents side of the board, i.e., at one of the two lines at the border.

There is no castling.

As usual, checkmate is a win for the mating player. A player that stalemates his opponent obtains 3/4 point, its opponent obtains 1/4 point.

Last modified: May 24, 1996.