Glinski's Variant

Origin

Devised by Polish engineer Władysław Glinski in 1936 and published in London in 1949, Glinski's hexagonal chess is the most widely played hex variant. It preserves the flavour of orthodox chess while opening the geometry to a third axis — every square touches six neighbours instead of four, and every diagonal touches six instead of two.

Board

A regular hexagon of 91 cells in three colours — light, mid, dark — so that no two neighbours share the same shade. Files run a–l (skipping j); ranks bend 60° at file f. Rank 11 is a single cell at the top of the board.

Starting Position

Each side has 18 pieces:

• 1 King · 1 Queen
• 2 Rooks · 3 Bishops · 2 Knights
• 9 Pawns (arc)

White's starting hexes:

• Rooks — c1, i1
• Knights — d1, h1
• Queen — e1 · King — g1
• Bishops — f1, f2, f3 (a colour-triple, one per shade)
• Pawns — b1, c2, d3, e4, f5, g4, h3, i2, k1 (the nine-pawn arc)

Black mirrors White through the centre; king and queen sit on the same files as their counterparts.

How Pieces Move

Rook

Slides any distance along the six orthogonal hex directions.

Bishop

Slides any distance along the six hex diagonals. Each bishop is locked to one of the three board colours; the three bishops together cover every hex on the board.

Queen

Rook and bishop combined — twelve directions in total. The most powerful piece on the honeycomb by a wide margin.

King

One hex in any of the twelve directions. May never step into check. There is no castling in Glinski's variant.

Knight

Two orthogonal hexes in one direction, then one orthogonal hex at 60° — twelve destinations. Jumps over intervening pieces. Uniquely among the pieces, the knight changes colour with every move.

Pawn

Moves one hex straight forward. From a starting hex on the arc it may double-step. Captures on the two forward flanking hexes — the immediate orthogonal neighbours to the left and right of its forward hex.

En passant: after a pawn double-steps, an enemy pawn whose flanking capture lands on the skipped hex may capture the double-stepper on its very next turn.

Promotion: a pawn reaching the far end of a file promotes to Queen, Rook, Bishop, or Knight.

Strategy Notes

• Bishops are long. On a hex board a bishop can traverse the board in far fewer moves than in orthodox chess. Trade minor pieces carefully — losing a bishop trio is costly.
• The f-file is the spine. Central pawn breaks on f5 shape the whole game; both sides fight for that column.
• Pawns capture sideways-forward. Because Glinski pawns strike the two adjacent forward flanks, pawn chains interlock differently than in orthodox chess — a defended pawn is defended by two pawns behind it, not diagonally.
• The king is exposed. With no castling, king safety comes from pawn structure and piece placement. Leaving the g1 corner too early is often punished.

Winning, Drawing, and Check

Checkmate wins. Stalemate is a draw in this implementation. Threefold repetition draws automatically. Both players may agree to a draw at any time. There is no castling.

Differences from McCooey's

Both variants share the same 91-hex board and the same movement rules for K, Q, R, B, and N. The differences are two: Glinski starts with a nine-pawn arc (McCooey uses seven pawns further back), and Glinski pawns capture on the two adjacent forward-flanks (McCooey pawns capture on the two forward bishop-diagonals, two hexes away).