Square and hex on same board

I don't like hexagonal variants (actually, i want to make "ideal" clone of FIDE chess on triangular board, and it's XQ, Shogi and other variants, but it need much work), but idea of this one was such interesting, so i could not not complete it. Here square and hexagonal pieces plays on same board! It looks like Joe Joyce's Walkers and Jumpers, wich have 2D and 4D pieces on same board. Of course, it's possible to represent this game as hexagonal, but i represented it as square, it was easier. Similar idea was already proposed by Ralph Betza (i was not aware of it before): Rectahex Chess

Setup

My original setup:

chodzohcrnbkqbnr
sssssssspppppppp
----------------
----------------
----------------
----------------
PPPPPPPPSSSSSSSS
RNBQKBNRCHOZDOHC

P - square pawn;
R - square rook;
N - square knight;
B - square  bishop;
Q - square queen;
K - square king;
S - hex pawn (soldier);
C - hex rook (castle);
H - hex knight (horse);
O - hex bishop (officer);
D - hex queen (dame);
Z - hex king (i don't know alternative names for king).
Uppercase are white, lowercase are black.

This setup have one disvantage: two hex-bishops on same bindings.
Here is alternative setup, with 3 hex-bishops on different bindings:

chodozohcrnbkqbnr
sssssssSspppppppp
-----------------
-----------------
-----------------
-----------------
PPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSS
RNBQKBNRCHOZODOHC

Pieces

Square pieces moves as usual. Each hex piece is stronger than it's square analogue (probably, expect for bishops). Directions north, south, west and east are absolute, they don't depend on player. White starts in the south, black starts in the north. Hex rook moves as square rook and along square diagonals to south-east and north-west. Hex-rook of BOTH players moves in this way: ---X---- X--X---- -X-X---- --XX---- XXXCXXXX ---XX--- ---X-X-- ---X--X- Hex-bishop moves along along square diagonals to south-west and north-west or (i hope, you are familar with knightrider) may leap several times in these square knight directions: 2 squares south, 1 square east; 1 south, 2 east; 2 north, 1 west; 2 west, 1 north. Hex-bishop of BOTH players moves in this way: --X-----X -------X- X--X--X-- --X--X--- ----O---- ---X--X-- --X--X--X -X------- X-----X-- Hex-queen moves either as hex-rook or hex-bishop. Hex-king's move is same, but it can make only 1 step or square knight's leap: ------- --X---- -XXXX-- --XZX-- --XXXX- ----X-- ------- Hex-pawn moves without capturing 1 step in any forward hex-orthogonals, captures 1 step (or leap) in any forward hex-diagonals. It can't make double step, but can capture square pawns en-passant. White hex-pawn moves in this way (M - move only, T - take only): ------ --T--- -TMMT- ---S-- ------ Black hex-pawn moves in this way: ------ --s--- -tmmt- ---t-- ------ Hex-knight may make these square-knight leaps: 1 square north, 2 squares east; 2 north, 1 east; 1 south, 2 west; 2 south, 1 west. Or these camel leaps: 3 south, 1 east; 1 south, 3 east; 1 north, 3 west; 3 north, 1 west. Or these zebra leaps: 3 south, 2 east; 2 south, 3 east; 2 north, 3 west; 3 north, 2 west. Hex-knight of BOTH players moves in this way: -------- -XX----- X---X--- X----X-- ---H---- -X----X- --X---X- ----XX--

Rules

Square king may castle with either square rooks, hex king can't castle. Square pawns promotes to square pieces, hex pawns promotes to hex pieces.
Check, checkmate, stalemate rules can be taken from any other variant with several royal pieces (e. g.: capture both kings, checkmate either).

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By Daniil Frolov.
Web page created: 2010-08-22. Web page last updated: 2010-08-22