Hexagonal chess

Hexagonal chess is a broad family of chess variants played on a board of hexagonal cells rather than the traditional eight by eight square grid. Several distinct hexagonal chess variants have been devised since the early twentieth century, each altering piece movement to fit the six-sided cell geometry, most notably Wladyslaw Glinski's version, patented in Britain in 1949 and later marketed with its own competitive following and a governing body of enthusiasts. Hexagonal boards commonly contain either 91 or 96 cells arranged in a larger hexagon or a diamond shape, and the change in geometry alters the relative power of pieces: bishops move along three axes instead of two, while pawns can have a more complex set of forward capturing directions than in orthodox chess. Because the hexagon offers three natural diagonal directions rather than the two on a square board, hexagonal variants are often used to illustrate how chess strategy would change under a different underlying geometry, and some versions have been studied by chess theorists and hobbyists as a distinct discipline within abstract strategy gaming rather than as a mere curiosity.