• overview


• chess board


• set-up


• king


• queen


• rook


• knight


• bishop


• pawn


• promotion


• capturing


• castling


• check


• checkmate


• stalemate


• win/lose/draw


• notation

4-Pawn Chess Board

The Hexes 4-Pawn chess board is comprised of 34 hexagons in three colors: umber, amber and sand (dark, medium and light). It is organized into four files by nine ranks (columns by rows). Note that the ranks are not horizontal as in square chess, but slope 30° up and right.

Rank/File Coordinates

Rank and file coordinates are not necessary to play Hexes Chess but they are useful for noting chess moves because they create an address for every hex on the chess board, and they are necessary when recording a match on a scoresheet using notation.

Each of the 34 hexagons on the Hexes 4-Pawn chess board has an address determined by its rank and file (row and column). The files are lettered a, b, c and d. The ranks are numbered 1-9. For example, the coordinate a8 identifies the location at the intersection of the a-file and the 8th rank. (See above.)

Note that on the Hexes 4-Pawn chess board, the locations a1 and d9 are absent, giving the chess board its lozenge shape. There is one extra amber hex on the 4-pawn board giving the bishops that travel on that color a slight advantage over the other bishops.