page_title: Hexagonal chess
section_title: Starchess
hierarchical_section_title: Hexagonal chess / Starchess
context_page_description: Hexagonal chess refers to a group of chess variants played on boards composed of hexagon cells. The best known is Gliński's variant, played on a symmetric 91-cell hexagonal board.
  Since each hexagonal cell not on a board edge has six neighbor cells, there is increased mobility for pieces compared to a standard orthogonal chessboard. Three colours are typically used so that no two neighboring cells are the same colour, and a colour-restricted game piece such as the orthodox chess bishop usually comes in sets of three per player in order to maintain the game's balance.
  Many different shapes and sizes of hexagon-based boards are used by variants. The nature of the game is also affected by the 30° orientation of the board's cells; the board can be horizontally or vertically oriented. The six-sidedness of the symmetric hexagon gameboard has also resulted in a number of three-player variants.
  The first applications of chess on hexagonal boards probably occurred mid-19th century, but two early examples did not include checkmate as the winning objective. More chess-like games for hexagon-based boards started appearing regularly at the beginning of the 20th century.
context_section_description: Starchess is a hexagonal variant invented by Hungarian chess teacher László Polgár. The board is a horizontally oriented regular hexagram, consisting of 37 numbered cells. Due to the small board, games typically finish quicker than in standard chess.
  Each player has five pawns, a king, knight, bishop, rook, and queen. The white pawns start at cells 5, 12, 18, 23, and 29; the black pawns at 9, 15, 20, 26, and 33. At the beginning of the game, the players place their other pieces alternately on the cells behind their pawns (White: 4, 11, 17, 22, 28; Black: 10, 16, 21, 27, 34). As a consequence, there are (5!)²=14400 possible setups.
  Pawns move one step vertically forward and capture one step orthogonally left-forward or right-forward, and have an initial double-step option (identical to Gliński's pawn); there is no en passant. The promotion zone for white pawns consists of Black's back rank (cells 10, 16, 21, 27, and 34), and for black pawns, White's back rank (cells 4, 11, 17, 22, and 28). A pawn that has lost its initial double-step option by making a capture is called a "limping pawn"; a pawn that ended up on cells 2, 3, 35, or 36 is called a "dead pawn"; a pawn on cells 1 or 37 is called a "mummy".
  The king moves one step in any orthogonal direction; there is no castling. The knight jumps, two steps in any orthogonal direction, followed by one step in a different direction (identical to Gliński's knight). The rook can move any number of steps, but only vertically; the bishop can move any number of steps, but not vertically. The queen combines the moves of the rook and the bishop, and thus can move any number of steps in any orthogonal direction (identical to Gliński's rook).
caption: Bishop moves