Hexagonal chess o'clock are numbered "1" to "10". For example (see diagram), the two kings start on e1 and e10; White's rooks start on a1 and i5, and Black's rooks start on a6 and i10. Each player calls the left-hand side of the board his "queen's flank" and the right-hand side his "bishops' flank"; note that they do not correlate (White's queen's flank is Black's bishops' flank). All pieces except pawns move and capture exactly as in Gliński's chess. In Shafran's chess, a pawn's first move can take it to the middle of the file. (So, the d-, e-, and f-pawns can
Almost Chess queen and chancellor having equal strengths. For example, bishops are stronger and knights are weaker. Betza commented that Almost Chess is a good introductory chess variant for players, due to its great similarity to standard chess and the naturalness of the change from queen to chancellor. Around 1994, Betza invented Sort of Almost Chess, a variation whereby one player owns a chancellor, and the opponent owns a queen. Betza considers the chances for both sides equal, even for advanced players, since the queen and chancellor have equal strengths. Sort of Almost Chess emerged from Betza's research on the values of