McCooey's Variant
A tighter cousin of Glinski's: seven pawns per side, and pawns that capture along bishop diagonals instead of orthogonal flanks.
Board
Same 91-hex, three-coloured board as Glinski's. Files a–l (skipping j); ranks bend 60° at file f.
Starting Position
Each side has 16 pieces:
- 1 King · 1 Queen
- 2 Rooks · 3 Bishops · 2 Knights
- 7 Pawns
White's starting hexes:
- Rooks — d1, h1
- Knights — e2, g2
- Queen — e1 · King — g1
- Bishops — f1, f2, f3
- Pawns — c1, d2, e3, f4, g3, h2, i1
Black mirrors White through the centre; king and queen sit on the same files as their counterparts.
How Pieces Move
Rook
Any distance along the six orthogonal hex directions.
Bishop
Any distance along the six hex diagonals. Colour-bound.
Queen
Rook and bishop combined — twelve directions.
King
One hex in any of the twelve directions. No castling.
Knight
Two orthogonal hexes then one at 60° — twelve destinations. Jumps over intervening pieces.
Pawn
One hex straight forward (double-step from a starting hex). Captures on the two forward bishop-diagonals — two hexes away, along the same lines a bishop slides.
En passant: when a pawn double-steps, an enemy pawn whose diagonal attack lands on the skipped hex may capture the double-stepper on its very next turn.
Promotion: a pawn reaching the opponent's back rank promotes to Queen, Rook, Bishop, or Knight.
Winning, Drawing, and Check
Checkmate wins. Stalemate is a draw. Threefold repetition draws automatically. Both players may agree to a draw at any time. There is no castling.