Tips

You can read tips and tricks about how to use the website, about hexagonal chess, and also about the variants you can play on this website.

Tips about the website

General

You can set the theme of the board in your profile or on the play page. You can choose from 3 themes (default, dark, green). Choose one from the list and click change theme button. The board will change theme accordingly.

You can visit your profile to see your statistics. You can see the number of games won, drawn, lost at each mode. You can also view other player's statistics. Go to search player, type their name and click their profile. You can also go to their profile from a game you played against them (click on their name) or from your friends list (if you are friends).

You can view your previous games from your profile. Go to your profile, scroll down and click view game at any of your previous games to view it.

If a red number appears next to your at the top of the page, you either have an unread message or a friend request. Go to your profile to view it.

You can add any player to your friends. Go to search player, type their name, click Add friend button. You can also go to their profile and add them friends from there. When they accept your friend request, you can send messages to each other or send challenges.

Go to your profile. At friends table click Send message to button at any of your friends to send message to them.

Go to your profile. At friends table click Challenge to play live or to play correspondence. Choose the mode and time limit, click create game. Only the friend who you sent the challenge will be able to see and accept the game.

If one of your friends challenged you to a game, you can see it at friends challenges table at play live or at play correspondence. You can accept or decline the challenge.

If you have any feedback or questions, you can contact us at the feedback page. When we read and respond to your feedback, a red number will appear next to the feedback button at the top of the page.

You can change your email address and your password at your profile. Please be sure to keep your email up to date, because if you forget your password, your email is the only way to recover your account.

If you forget your password, go to log in page, click forgot password. Type your username and email and click reset password. An email will be sent to you with your new password. Log in to your account and change your password.

Live games

To minimize the waiting time for games try to create more games with different time controls or different variants of games. You can also accept other player's challenges. If you don't see any challenge, it is always a good idea to create new challenge.

If your opponent doesn't move in the first turn, you can abort the game with the abort game button. The game will be aborted and no results of the game will be kept.

You can click at any of your pieces at your turn to see the moves it can make. There is no touch move rule on this website, so you can check where your pieces can go before making your move.

It is recommended to keep the sound on when playing a live game. You will hear a sound every time a move is made and you will also hear a sound when your timer is running low (under 10 seconds). If you hear this sound, move as soon as possible, to avoid losing on time.

If you play without increment, keep a close look at your time. In case of fast games (5 minutes or lower), having more time means advantage. Try to keep your timer higher than your opponent.

When a game is over, you can analyze it. Click on the Analyze Game button below the chat. The game will be loaded for analyzing. Use the left and right arrows to move back and forward. You can try out new moves. If you are looking for deeper analyzes, download the application. You can analyze your games with (or play aginst) engines.

Correspondece games

Correspondence games have a time limit of 1 to 3 days for one move. This means that the 2 players don't have to be online at the same time to play. Correspondence games can last weeks or months to finish depending on the time it takes for the players to move.

You can play as many correspondence games as you want simultaneously.

A red number next to Play correspondence button at the top shows how many games do you have to move at. Go to play correspondence and you will se the list of your current games. Where it is your turn clcik view this game.

In correspondence games it is allowed to analyze the game (while it is still in progress), however any engine (computer) help is prohibited. Click on the analyze game, to try out your move and the possible responds your opponent can make. Once you are ready, go back to the game and make your move.

Timeout doesn't lose automatically. If your opponent timed out, you can choose to wait for their moves or to claim win. To claim win, go to your game and click the claim win link (the link will only appear if your opponent ran out of time). If you don't have enough material to mate, the game will be a draw.

If you timed out and your opponent decided not to claim the win, you can still make your move and continue the game. Hurry up, because your opponent can change their mind at any time and claim the win. When the move is made, it is no longer possible to claim win.

Take your time and move slowly in correspondence games. You don't have to rush, you have 1 to 3 days to make a move (depending on the time control).

If you have correspondence games in progress, it is highly recommended to visit the website at least once a day, to avoid running out of time.

Tips about hexagonal chess

Hexagonal chess is more complicated than regular chess, therefore it requires more time to make a move. If you are a beginner, choose games with slower time controls. Take your time, and think over your moves.

If you are a beginner, start with learning the rules. Most of the new players find the movement of the knight the most difficult. Pay extra attention to knights.

There are 3 phases of the game: Opening, middle game, endgame. At each phase, you have different goals to achieve.

Opening

Your task is to activate your pieces in the opening and to build a good defense. Try to avoid moving with the same piece twice before activating all of them (unless of course it wins material). Don't activate your queen too early. It will most likely be atacked and you will lose tempo.

Middle game

Usually this phase lasts the longest. Your goal here is to win material. A good defense and strong attacks are the key to win the game. You can try to directly attack the opponent king, to fork opponent pieces or just get positional advantage. Maintain more space for your pieces than your opponent. If you have material advantage, try to trade pieces. If you are down in material, avoid trading.

You have to reach an endgame that is winning for you, or draw if you have worse position.

Endgame

The whole game comes down at the endgame. No matter how good you played, if you mess it up here you ruin your whole game.

The pawns become extremly valuable. Both sides try to promote their pawns. The kings that were hiding before, suddenly become a strong attacking piece. The side that can promote a pawn earlier usually wins, even with a sacrifice. Defended passed pawns can win a game. The opponent has to block it, or sacrifice a piece for it.

The game can end with a repetition (if none of the sides can improve their psoition). The game can also end by a side promoting one of their pawns (and the opponent can't). Otherwise sooner or later one of the sides (or both of them) will lose all their pawns. Positions like that is easy to calculate. You should remember which of these winning for you, which are draw and which are losing. You have to play the endgame to create the best result to yourself.

An important difference between hexagonal chess and regular chess is that if a side has a pawn and king, the other has only a king, and the side with the pawn can defend the pawn with their king (even from behind), the game is always winning for them.

Endgames without pawns

A huge material advantage always wins. The results are usually the same as in regular chess, with the following exceptions:

When you have a winning position, you have to force your opponent's king to the edge of the board and checkmate or capture their other defending piece to win.

When you have a drawn position and you are defending (or a lost position against an unexperienced player), you have to try to stay in the middle of the board for as long as possible. You don't have to last forever. After 50 moves without a pawn move or capture, the game is considered draw.

Tips about variants

King of the hill

Defend the f6 hexagon. This game mode changes the endgame. In the oppening and middle game, you can't reach the center if your opponent plays well. It is extremly easy to defend it, when there are many pieces left, so don't even try it too early.

However, in the endgame things become differnet. Your priority won't will change. In normal games, you would try to promote a pawn, but here it is more important to rush for the center. Clear the way with sacrifices. You can win even with a single king.

If your opponent's king is close to the center, try to force the king away. If you can't, defend the center with at least 2 pieces. If you defend with only 1 piece, that piece will become pinned. If you move it away, the opponent reaches the center. If you are close to the center and your opponent defends it with only 1 piece, sacrifice any piece in order to force that piece to move away.

5 checks

Keep your king really safe in this mode. You need lots of defense for it. Getting a check where you can't capture the piece that gives check usually loses. Find moves where you can deliver 5 checks (or as many as still needs). Sacrifice any piece to achieve your goal. It is common to sacrifice minor pieces just to deliver a check, however you have to be careful doing it, because too many sacrifices weaks your defense.

Capture the flag

This is the most tactical variation. The goal is not only to checkmate the opponent, but also to capture the opponent's flag, which makes you able to give a fork to the king and to the flag. That's a winning fork. The flag is unmoveable, so if you attack it and the opponent can't capture the attacking piece and can't block the way of the attack, you win. But be careful, your opponent can also do the same.

The most interesting part of this game is that king vs king position is usually won to one of the players (the player who has more advanced king). The game is drawn if the less advanced king has an opposition.

Usually it is better to attack the flag than the king, because the flag can't move, therefore it is more vulnerable.