Question 1

What is HEARTH?

Accepted Answer

HEARTH is a home for six hexagonal chess variants. Each variant has its own board geometry, starting position, pawn rules, and dedicated play page, while sharing the same core engine and pass-and-play experience.

Question 2

What's HEARTH's mission?

Accepted Answer

To serve as a home for six hexagonal chess variants, giving each one a presence in the spotlight. HEARTH brings their different geometries and ideas together so you can compare them, learn them, and play them in one place.

Question 3

Which variants are hosted here?

Accepted Answer

HEARTH currently hosts Glinski's, McCooey's, Shafran's, Brusky's, De Vasa's, and Polgar's Starchess. They range from the full 91-cell hexagon to Shafran's irregular board, Brusky's pointy-top board, De Vasa's rhombus, and Starchess's compact 37-cell hexagram.

Question 4

How do Glinski's and McCooey's differ?

Accepted Answer

Both use the 91-cell board and the same movement rules for the main pieces. Glinski's starts with nine pawns on an arc and its pawns capture on the two forward-flanking neighbouring hexes. McCooey's starts with seven pawns and uses the two forward bishop-diagonal capture lines. Neither variant has castling.

Question 5

What makes Shafran's Variant different?

Accepted Answer

Shafran's uses a 70-cell irregular hexagon with nine pawns and three bishops per side. A pawn may advance one, two, or three squares on its first move, depending on its file; afterward it advances one square at a time. It is the only HEARTH variant with four castling forms: short or long, toward either the queenside or bishopside rook.

Question 6

What makes Brusky's Variant different?

Accepted Answer

Brusky's uses an 84-cell pointy-top board with ten pawns and three bishops per side. Pawns can move into either of two forward-orthogonal cells, may double-step on their first move, and capture only on the two slanted forward diagonals. The two forward lanes are independent, so a piece blocking one lane does not freeze the other. Castling is available on both sides.

Question 7

How does De Vasa's Variant work?

Accepted Answer

De Vasa's is played on an 81-cell, 9×9 rhombus. It has nine pawns per side and the same main-piece and pawn mechanics as Brusky's: two forward-orthogonal pawn moves, first-move double-steps, and slanted captures only. It also has two-sided castling: the king and rook move two fields on the nearer-rook castle and three fields on the far-rook castle.

Question 8

How does Starchess work?

Accepted Answer

Starchess is played on a 37-cell hexagram with five pawns and five back-rank pieces per side. Its king moves to any of six edge-adjacent neighbours, rooks slide only vertically, bishops slide along the four slanted directions, and the queen combines those six lines. Knights and pawns use the compact board's dedicated rules. There is no castling or pawn double-step.

Question 9

How do the main pieces move?

Accepted Answer

Except in Starchess, rooks slide along the six orthogonal hex directions, bishops along the six diagonal directions, queens combine both sets, kings move one step in any of those twelve directions, and knights jump to up to twelve hex-knight destinations. Sliding pieces stop at the first occupied hex and may capture an opposing piece there.

Question 10

How do pawns promote and capture?

Accepted Answer

Pawns always advance toward the opponent's side and promote on the far edge of their variant's board to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight. Their capture pattern depends on the variant: Glinski's and Starchess use forward-flanking captures, McCooey's and Shafran's use forward bishop-diagonals, and Brusky's and De Vasa's use the two slanted forward diagonals without capturing directly ahead.

Question 11

When is castling legal?

Accepted Answer

Castling is available in Shafran's, Brusky's, and De Vasa's only. The king and chosen rook must not have moved, every required space between them must be empty, and the king may not castle out of, through, or into check. The exact distance and available sides follow that variant's guide.

Question 12

How strong are the bots?

Accepted Answer

PIXEL-01 through VEGA-13 cover novice to club difficulty. ORION-Δ is an advanced positional opponent, HELIOS-Ω is an expert engine designed to avoid early blunders, and HEX//PRIME is the strongest opponent. The bots can be selected for every variant, with the rules and board geometry changing automatically.

Question 13

What are presets?

Accepted Answer

Presets are curated positions for each variant. Every variant has six positions spanning openings, middlegames, and endgames. Select a variant on the Presets page, then choose a position to load it directly into a playable game.

Question 14

How do saves work?

Accepted Answer

Save a game from its side panel to create a slot for that variant. Loading a slot restores the board, turn, captured pieces, and move history. The active save updates as you continue playing, and saved names identify the variant they belong to.

Question 15

Is there multiplayer?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Online lobby pairs you with a random opponent, or with a specific person when you both search the same 4-digit code — if several players share that code you pick who to face, listed by handle and country. No account and no keys: you get an anonymous guest handle stored in a cookie on this device. Every match has live chat, resign and draw offers, and leaving the board counts as a resignation, so an opponent is never left waiting. If you wander back to the lobby mid-game, a Return to game link takes you straight back. Local pass-and-play and the AI bots remain available on every variant page.