Issue 24 - Autumn 2022
The image shows part of a game of Władysław Gliński's Hexagonal Chess. The board is a commissioned work by Ryan Andrew, with walnut, maple, and rosewood hexagons for the three colours of Hexagonal Chess. The wooden pieces are an original Christian Freeling Grand Chess set. One of the three Bishops of Hexagonal Chess is slightly stronger than the other two, and the Grand Chess Cardinal stands in for this third Bishop. John Jaques & Son of London manufactured a nice set in 1976, but these original editions are hard to find and expensive. Other versions of the game were published in Eastern Europe in the latter part of the 20th Century, and these, too, are difficult to obtain. A modern set is available on Game Crafter, which comes with a set of disc-shaped pieces; the board alone can be purchased if you prefer to use your own figurines. Gliński's Hexagonal Chess is playable on GreenChess, which has a clean, efficient interface. The game may also be played at hexagonalchess.com.
According to Jean-Louis Cazaux in A World of Chess, the first version of hexagonal chess was developed by Thomas Hanmer Croughton in 1853. Subsequently, John Jaques of London, mentioned above, published Hexagonia in 1864, which was the first commercial version of chess on hexagons. Since then, many other varieties of the game have been developed in addition to Gliński's game, which itself dates from 1936. I will refer to Glinski's Hexagonal Chess specifically as HexChess, which parallels the Hungarian name for the game, Hexasakk.
The rules and some of the history of HexChess up to 1998 are available on ChessVariants. The game was first launched in Britain in 1949—Gliński was a Polish national, who moved to Britain after WWII, and it was from Britain that he tried to popularize his game. He finally completed the rules in 1972, with a change in the significance of stalemate. He published the book First Theories of Hexagonal Chess in 1974—which we reviewed in AG7. The first British Championship was held in 1976. A first European Championship followed in 1980. Subsequently, numerous national championships took place in Eastern Europe. Importantly, the first Hungarian National HexChess Championship was held in 1982. The Hungarians have continued to organize tournaments to this day, without interruption, which is a marvellous feat of longevity for a modern abstract game. The winner of the first International Tournament in1984 was Lázló Rudolf of Hungary. Rudolf went on to split with Marek Mackowiak of Poland the first (and only) World Championship, held in Beijing in 1990-1991. Both players were awarded the title of World Champion.
David Pritchard, in his Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, claims that HexChess once had half a million players in Eastern Europe, a huge number for a modern game. Gliński, however, died in 1990, and the game subsequently slipped from the high point of its popularity. International organization of the game lapsed until 1996. That year, the International Hexagonal Chess Federation (IHCF) was founded. With Gliński out of the picture, the headquarters of the IHFC were moved from Britain to Hungary. Already, at this point, the future of HexChess would depend on a cadre of expert Hungarian players.
After 1998, we have to turn to the records of the Hungarian players for further history of HexChess. Hungarian webmaster Sándor Bódor has created a stupendous resource over the decades. In addition to what looks to me like a complete tournament history of HexChess, including game scores, he has recorded substantial opening analysis here, and a huge number of HexChess problems here. These websites represent a unique and priceless resource for abstract game players who wish to explore Gliński's game. Of course, there is good introductory material in Gliński's own First Theories of Hexagonal Chess, but Gliński's work has been far superseded by the efforts of top Hungarian players, people like Sándor Bódor himself and first HexChess World Champion László Rudolf.
The Hungarian records here show the tournament history of HexChess from 1980 to 2013. Here, for example, we can find games from the European Championships, International Tournaments, and first World Championship, as well as games from dozens of other local and national tournaments. The last European Championship took place in 1998, and there was no subsequent World Championship after the first. A second listing of tournament history from 2014 to the present is here. The schedule of local and Hungarian national tournaments continues unabated. In particular, the Hungarian HexChess Federation have maintained their national championship from 1982 to the present.
HexChess is very much its own game and feels quite different to chess variants on squared boards. The non-Pawn pieces have six or twelve directions of movement, rather than the equivalent four or eight, which considerably increases the number of combinations in HexChess. The pieces are more flexible in attack, but this is balanced in that they are more flexible in defence, too—the King has twelve directions in which to flee. The HexChess Knight is clearly more powerful than the Bishop, unlike regular Chess, where they have similar value. Players need to be careful in the exchange of minor pieces. The HexChess Pawns behave quite differently. Two side-by-side HexChess Pawns, for example, can march up the board in unison, taking turns to protect each other. The equivalent switch of protection in Chess takes two moves rather than one. The larger board, with the lower density of pieces more powerful than in regular Chess, often creates board-spanning networks of threat and control, to a more significant degree, I think, than in regular Chess. HexChess has its own unique character.
In First Theories of Hexagonal Chess, Gliński expresses the conviction that HexChess is a game for the 21st Century. Despite its initial promise, HexChess may never rise to become the widely played world game he hoped it would be—perhaps no modern abstract ever will. Nevertheless, the Hungarian players have kept the flame alive over the intervening decades, and maybe Gliński's Hexagonal Chess will one day return to international competition. ~ KH
According to Jean-Louis Cazaux in A World of Chess, the first version of hexagonal chess was developed by Thomas Hanmer Croughton in 1853. Subsequently, John Jaques of London, mentioned above, published Hexagonia in 1864, which was the first commercial version of chess on hexagons. Since then, many other varieties of the game have been developed in addition to Gliński's game, which itself dates from 1936. I will refer to Glinski's Hexagonal Chess specifically as HexChess, which parallels the Hungarian name for the game, Hexasakk.
The rules and some of the history of HexChess up to 1998 are available on ChessVariants. The game was first launched in Britain in 1949—Gliński was a Polish national, who moved to Britain after WWII, and it was from Britain that he tried to popularize his game. He finally completed the rules in 1972, with a change in the significance of stalemate. He published the book First Theories of Hexagonal Chess in 1974—which we reviewed in AG7. The first British Championship was held in 1976. A first European Championship followed in 1980. Subsequently, numerous national championships took place in Eastern Europe. Importantly, the first Hungarian National HexChess Championship was held in 1982. The Hungarians have continued to organize tournaments to this day, without interruption, which is a marvellous feat of longevity for a modern abstract game. The winner of the first International Tournament in1984 was Lázló Rudolf of Hungary. Rudolf went on to split with Marek Mackowiak of Poland the first (and only) World Championship, held in Beijing in 1990-1991. Both players were awarded the title of World Champion.
David Pritchard, in his Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, claims that HexChess once had half a million players in Eastern Europe, a huge number for a modern game. Gliński, however, died in 1990, and the game subsequently slipped from the high point of its popularity. International organization of the game lapsed until 1996. That year, the International Hexagonal Chess Federation (IHCF) was founded. With Gliński out of the picture, the headquarters of the IHFC were moved from Britain to Hungary. Already, at this point, the future of HexChess would depend on a cadre of expert Hungarian players.
After 1998, we have to turn to the records of the Hungarian players for further history of HexChess. Hungarian webmaster Sándor Bódor has created a stupendous resource over the decades. In addition to what looks to me like a complete tournament history of HexChess, including game scores, he has recorded substantial opening analysis here, and a huge number of HexChess problems here. These websites represent a unique and priceless resource for abstract game players who wish to explore Gliński's game. Of course, there is good introductory material in Gliński's own First Theories of Hexagonal Chess, but Gliński's work has been far superseded by the efforts of top Hungarian players, people like Sándor Bódor himself and first HexChess World Champion László Rudolf.
The Hungarian records here show the tournament history of HexChess from 1980 to 2013. Here, for example, we can find games from the European Championships, International Tournaments, and first World Championship, as well as games from dozens of other local and national tournaments. The last European Championship took place in 1998, and there was no subsequent World Championship after the first. A second listing of tournament history from 2014 to the present is here. The schedule of local and Hungarian national tournaments continues unabated. In particular, the Hungarian HexChess Federation have maintained their national championship from 1982 to the present.
HexChess is very much its own game and feels quite different to chess variants on squared boards. The non-Pawn pieces have six or twelve directions of movement, rather than the equivalent four or eight, which considerably increases the number of combinations in HexChess. The pieces are more flexible in attack, but this is balanced in that they are more flexible in defence, too—the King has twelve directions in which to flee. The HexChess Knight is clearly more powerful than the Bishop, unlike regular Chess, where they have similar value. Players need to be careful in the exchange of minor pieces. The HexChess Pawns behave quite differently. Two side-by-side HexChess Pawns, for example, can march up the board in unison, taking turns to protect each other. The equivalent switch of protection in Chess takes two moves rather than one. The larger board, with the lower density of pieces more powerful than in regular Chess, often creates board-spanning networks of threat and control, to a more significant degree, I think, than in regular Chess. HexChess has its own unique character.
In First Theories of Hexagonal Chess, Gliński expresses the conviction that HexChess is a game for the 21st Century. Despite its initial promise, HexChess may never rise to become the widely played world game he hoped it would be—perhaps no modern abstract ever will. Nevertheless, the Hungarian players have kept the flame alive over the intervening decades, and maybe Gliński's Hexagonal Chess will one day return to international competition. ~ KH