![]() | King
A King can move to any adjacent square, but never to a square where it can be captured. |
![]() | Queen
A Queen moves any number of squares in a straight line. It may not leap over other pieces. |
![]() | Rook
A Rook moves any number of squares orthogonally on a rank or a file. It may not leap over other pieces. |
![]() | Knight
A Knight moves like an `L`, two squares vertically plus one horizontally, or two squares horizontally plus one vertically. It hops over any pieces on the way. |
![]() | Bishop
A Bishop moves any number of squares on a diagonal. It may not leap over other pieces. |
![]() | Pawn
A Pawn can move straight ahead one square, or two squares from its starting position. A Pawn captures by moving one square ahead and diagonally. On rare occasions Pawns can also execute a move called `En Passant`, or `in passing`. This allows a Pawn to take an enemy Pawn that has just moved two squares. Pawns promote when they arrive on one of the eleven hexes that define the opposite borders of the board. |
DescriptionBasically, HexChess is a game of chess played on a base-6 hexagonal board. All rules are adapted to the new board shape as closely as possible.The major change from a square-shaped to a hex-shaped board involves the number of squares which are considered adjacent to another square. On the normal chess board, a square usually has 8 neighbours. On the hex-board, a square (or better, a hex) has 12 neigbours: There are now 6 'orthogonal' and 6 'diagonal' directions, as opposed to 4 each. Consequently, 3 different colours are used to make orientation easier, so when moving in an 'orthogonal' direction, the hex colour changes with every step. When moving 'diagonally', it stays the same. A side effect of this point of view is that 'diagonally' moving pieces appear to 'jump' hexes, which is not really true: The Knight remains the only jumping piece. This hex-transition of chess (sometimes called Polish Chess) seems less perfect than McCooey's, but then it is also much older. In Glinski's variant, the Pawn's capture is not really 'diagonal', it takes place along the 'orthogonal' directions which look diagonal. Another surprise is that the starting setup has holes in it. Glinski also suggested that a player that stalemates his opponent should not get 1/2, but 3/4 points. To reflect this, Zillions considers stalemate as a win. HistoryInvented by Wladyslaw Glinksi in 1939This version for the Zillions-of-Games engine was implemented by Jens Markmann. StrategySimilar to orthodox chess.More information on Glinski's Hexagonal Chess can be found at http://www.chessvariants.com/hexagonal.dir/hexagonal.html. |