File spoon-archives/avant-garde.archive/avant-garde_1996/96-09-01.085, message 135


Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 12:34:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alex Trotter <uburoi-AT-panix.com>
Subject: three-sided chess



HEXAGONAL CHESS  unorthodox play on a board formed from hexagons. The 
earliest version was suggested by the Viennese engineer Siegmund Wellisch 
in 1912. He chose a hexagonal board as the most logical for THREE-HANDED 
CHESS, and 91 hexagons as the nearest equivalent, for three players, to 
the 64 squares used by two players in orthodox chess. So that no adjacent 
hexagons are of the same colour a third is needed, and he chose red. 
[Accompanying diagram shows the array of pieces.]
	The king's move is to one of the six (or three or four) adjoining 
hexagons, the knight's move is to the nearest hexagon of the same colour 
(and so three knights are needed to cover the board), the rook's move is 
in straight lines through the sides of the hexagons. There are no 
bishops. The queen combines the moves of the rook and knight. The pawns 
are advanced through the sides of the hexagons to arrive or capture on 
one of the two hexagons lying ahead.
	Forms of hexagonal chess using a board of overall quadrilateral 
shape have been devised, but the version that has had the most success in 
modern times is a two-handed game using a board similar to Wellisch's, 
the players sitting at opposite angles. It was introduced by Wladyslaw 
Glinski (1920- ), a Polish-born Londoner. The forces differ from those of 
Wellisch in that each side has only two knights, but has three bishops 
and one extra pawn. The moves of the pieces, also different, are 
described in Glinski's book, *Rules of Hexagonal Chess* (1973).
	Glinski's version achieved some popularity, and in 1976 the 
British Hexagonal Chess Federation was formed. A visit by Glinski to his 
homeland in 1978 generated much interest there and in 1980 an 
International Hexagonal Chess Federation was formed, the first world 
championship being held in 1987. Other than Britain, the countries 
showing the most interest are Poland, Hungary, [Czechoslovakia], [USSR], 
Yugoslavia, Italy, and the USA.


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entry from *The Oxford Companion to Chess* 2d ed. (David Hooper & Kenneth 
Whyld), 1992.


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