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Wellisch's Hexagonal Chess

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Sigmund Wellisch, 1912. Three-handed hexagonal chess. This was among the first of the successful three-handed chess variants.

Whoever captures the first king commands that army. Afterward, the game is won and lost normally. I made all pawns promote to queens. Sigmund Wellisch, 1912. Instead of the capturer of the first king acquiring the defeated army, I implemented the simpler rule that this player wins and a draw is counted for the player who was not checkmated. I also had all pawns promote to queens, though Wellish allowed only promotions to a previously captured piece.

Chess Variants

These are simple illustrations rather than strong opponents.

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Written by Ed Friedlander


WWW Page Added: April 1, 2003 

Categories and Details


Credits

Author: Ed Friedlander. Inventor: Sigmund Wellisch.

Comments

Wellisch's Hexagonal Chess. Hexagonal chess for three players.
George Duke wrote on Fri, Nov 30, 2012 11:21 AM EST:
Besides the three Gilman uses to base his system on, also worth a look as to piece-type topography are /play/erf/Hazlewoo.html and /play/erf/Galaches.html. 

Those two differentiate more strikingly from Wellisch, Hazlewood for its pawns and Galachess for its Knight. 

Also HexTony, /play/erf/HexTony.html and 

Monarch, /play/erf/MonarchH.html for the same pawns and knights. Gradually the object is to see the innovation in the AltOrthHex chesses after organizing the field mostly around Gilman's Wellisch and Glinski/McCooey.

George Duke wrote on Mon, Nov 26, 2012 04:12 PM EST:
Mostly in CVs Charles Gilman distinguishes Wellisch versus McCooey/Glinski.  Here are applets for those two too, /play/erf/Glinski.html, and /play/erf/McCooey.html.  What are the differences between Glinski and the older Wellisch in piece-type topography? Is the demarcation two-fold, or is there a difference between Glinski and McCooey in philosophy of hexagons?  Where do Wellisch and Glinski diverge anyway?

There are many modern Indian cvs. Here's an applet for one: /play/erf/MayaChss.html.

George Duke wrote on Tue, Nov 20, 2012 06:50 PM EST:
Three-handed Wellisch's is among several cvs from year 1912, 100 years, along with Dawson's Grasshopper piece-type. Wellisch's grandson says in other comment here, though the acorn fell from the tree, he is aware of this CV, sustained by Dr. Friedlander's applet, still being played in India. (1) What other CVs of modern origin also not only play but may originate from India the twentieth century? (2) Also, to get self-explanatory study of Charles Gilman's ''Wellisch orientation'' -- versus that of Glinsky and that of McCooey -- just move pieces against this computer. Three interpretations of how best to divide and define hexagonal basic piece-types: Glinsky (1936), McCooey (1978-79), Wellisch (1912).

Hans Wellisch wrote on Sun, Dec 20, 2009 08:36 PM EST:
I am the grandson of Sigmund. Unfortunately, the acorn fell far from the tree, as I have very modest skills even with two-sided chess. I think three-sided game is played somewhere in India?

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First Created: Wednesday, September 4th, 2002
Last Modified: Wednesday, September 4th, 2002
File Timestamp: Wed, 14 Jul 2021 17:37:54 -0400
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