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Hexemergo
Hexemergo is a literal translation of Emergo to the hexboard, and has exactly the same rules.
Of course movement and capture are in six rather than four directions and there are 37 cells instead of 41 squares. But for the rest, things are pretty much the same. Or are they?
Applet
download applet play online a word on notation | You can download this MindSports applet, which is tailored to save games played in the Pit, offline. |
A special case of 3-fold
To get a taste of what can happen on the hexboard, have a look at the above curious case of 3-fold, with no equivalent on the square board.
White's position is hopeless, of course, but ... see what happens.
Tactics generally tend to dress more capricious on the hexboard, but in Hexemergo they are over the top. In the above example white makes two moves, after which things run their own course. That happens quite often in Hexemergo - things running their own course. A perceivedly well calculated combination may go haywire by the slightest oversight, turning the board into a whirlpool of unforeseen captures, the outcome of which is in the hands of fate.
Nothing wrong yet, though. Capricious games where chances may turn several times have their own charm.
Initiative may be more prolongued than in Emergo too, especially with a strong piece, because of a property of the hexboard. If during leapfrogging the opponent's piece ends on the side, a player can more often than not draw it back into the field by a move parallel to the side. This way to keep the initiative is not possible in Emergo.
| 7- versus 4-cap, defender in opposition Opposition in Hexemergo is always diagonal opposition. Here the moves that draw black back into the field are white 3 and 8. This type of move to continue a combination is impossible in Emergo. |
Still nothing wrong yet, though. And in over the board play nothing is, because players just cannot calculate deep enough without losing track.
Hexemergo's flaw was spotted by Ed van Zon, in correspondence play. When playing white, he employed the usual Emergo strategy of trying to keep the game as flat as possible during the entering phase, always taking care not to lose the right on the first move after the entering phase.
Next he carefully sifted through the many possible feeding combinations to find a straight knock-out.
Hexemergo's flaw is that it is so rich in combinations that his quest invariably succeeded, i.e in correspondence play white has a winning strategy.
That's too bad because one can't 'change' or 'repair' or 'improve' a quintessential game.
But one can nevertheless enjoy its intricacies.
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A Hexemergo example game
| In this game between the inventors, white manages to keep the entering stage flat. Yet his initial efforts to create some muscle go astray and after some twenty moves each, black seems to call the shots with a solid 4 and a clear target: the four black prisoners under a single white man. On move 23 however white finds a deep combination, involving two points where black has a choice of capture, that not only liberates a large stack, but rolls right into victory. |
External links
- Hexemergo @ ZillionsHexemergo has been implemented on the Zillions game machine.
- (Hex)Emergo's entry @ BoardGameGeek
Hexemergo © MindSports
Java applet © Ed van Zon