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
Slides any distance along the six orthogonal directions — edge to edge.
Slides any distance along the six hex diagonals, locked to one of the three board colours.
Rook plus bishop — twelve directions in total.
One hex in any of the twelve directions, never into check.
Two hexes in one orthogonal direction, then one at 60° — twelve destinations, jumping over anything in between.
Steps one hex straight up the file and captures on the two forward bishop-diagonals.
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.