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Hexagonal chess composition competition

Call for participants

The competition is organised in the following 4 categories:

•    Twomovers (white starts and can mate black in 2 moves, in case of black's best defence)

•    Threemovers (white starts and can mate black in 3 moves, in case of black's best defence)

•    Moremovers (white starts and can mate black in 3 or more moves, in case of black's best defence)

•    Studies (white starts and can achieve a clear winning or draw position in case of black’s best defence)

An author can submit an unlimited number of compositions in any category.

The deadline for submissions is Sunday 6 July 2025, to the following email address suto.peter@dhte.hu. Submissions can be sent continuously up to the deadline, it is not necessary to send them all at once. Once submitted, you can modify, correct and resubmit the composition up to the deadline and the final version will be evaluated.

Prizes

In each category, the compositions will be ranked in the following positions:

1st prize 6.000 HUF ~ 15 euro

2nd prize 4.000 HUF ~ 10 euro

3rd prize 2.000 HUF ~ 5 euro

A participant can win prizes for more than one composition in a category. There will be no further ranking between the compositions.

The award ceremony will take place at the 46th Hexagonal Chess National Championship in Mórahalom. The prize winner who will not be present will, of course, receive his prize in another way.

Requirements for submitting compositions

For each compsition, the name of the author, the position of the problem with the algebraic notation used in hexachess and the stipulation of the problem must be submitted. In addition, for direct mate problems, the complete solution of the problem with the occasional branches and remarks, and for studies, the main variants of the solution up to the point where the stipulation is clearly proved (e.g. to achieve a decisive material advantage).

In each category, the position of the compositions and the moves of the pieces must comply with the rules of hexachess. A position is illegal if the position cannot be reached from the hexachess starting position by a regular sequence of moves (e.g. pawn behind the pawn baseline; more pieces promoted than missing pawns; more file changes have been made with pawns than the number of opponent pieces captured, etc.)

A puzzle can only start with an en passant capture if it can be proven that black's last move could only have been to move the pawn in question two moves.

Incorrect problems will be disqualified from the competition. 

The compsition is incorrect in the following cases:

•    in the case of an illegal position,

•    if there is more than one solution (i.e. you can reach the stipulation starting with different white moves),

•    if there is no solution matching the stipulation,

•    if it is not original (i.e. it is a copy or direct variation of a previous hexachess problem).

The value of the compsitions is determined by the following criteria:

•    the sophistication, complexity and number of themes presented,

•    difficulty of the solution

•    for direct mate problems, the use of a model mate (a mate is called a model mate if all white pieces (except the king and pawns) are actively involved in the mate and all squares of the black king are blocked by only one reason (except the square of pinned pieces)).

•    economy of material

•    the naturalness and/or aesthetic appearance of the position.

Factors that reduce the value of the composition:

•    duals (if there are more than one continuation for white to achieve the stipulation at any stage in the solution up to and including the mate, except if the mating move is a pawn promotion and different pieces can be promoted to mate black king),

•    pieces or pawns on the board that are not necessary for either the intention of the problem or its soundness and use of stronger pieces than necessary (a choice of pieces is possible the less powerful should be used),

•    the first move (the key) is a check or a capture of a piece,

•    the material on the board should not normally exceed that available at the beginning of a game of hexachess (neither side may have three knights, and bishops of the same side should be on different-coloured squares).

Participants may use computer program to check the correctness of their compositions (eliminating multiple solutions, duals). A test version of a program can be requested from the email above.