Viking Chess Club

Viking Chess Club wins the Icelandic league again!

In it's the second year in first division, the Viking Chess Club became Chess Club Champion of Iceland, thus breaking TB four year domination of the title last year.  Having won promotion in the last 3 previous years from 4th divison to 1st division, the Viking Chess Club exactly repeated the success achieved by the Hrokurinn chess club at the turn of the millennium.  The Viking Chess Club became clear first, 4.5 points clear of the GM Hellir and Taflfélag Vestmannaeyjar had to settle for third place.  The team composition of the Viking Chess Club was following:

GM Grzegorz Gajewski, GM Marcin Dziuba (first 5 round),  GM Hannes Hlífar Stefánsson, GM Stefán Kristjánsson,  Loui Galego (last four round), IM Björn Thorfinsson, FM Magnús Örn Úlfarsson, FM Davíð Kjartansson and Ólafur Brynjar Þórsson.

The Viking Chess Club was originally founded in Reykjavik back in 2007 with the main purpose to play a different version of chess called „Vikingchess“. Since all the members had background in classical chess, they also started competing in the classical chess league the same year and the rest is history as the saying goes.

Despite its success in classical chess, the club still continues to put the main emphasis on the more complex „Vikingchess“, both organising tournaments and participating in team competitions.  

Introduction to Viking Chess 

The game of  „VIKING CHESS“  is relatively new and was invented in Iceland only a few years ago.  It is played on an unusual board, which is similar to a classical chess board, but instead of squares, it has hexagons.  The hexagons are of three different colours (see figure 1.)

The standard VIKING CHESS playing board is of the size of 17 x 21 inches, made up of 85 hexagons.  The hexagons are divided into 9 columns, 5 of them having 9 hexagons and the remaining 4 columns 10 hexagons.

The VIKING CHESS pieces are of two different colours just as in classical chess.  They include 9 pieces and 9 pawns.  The additional piece or the 9th piece, is the VIKING.  The remaining 8 pieces are exactly the same as in classical chess.

The pieces are moved analogical to classical chess, but obviously the movement of the Viking is new.

In classical chess, the game is divided into three parts:  Opening, middle game and endgame.  In VIKING CHESS on the other hand, the game is divided into 4 parts:  Arranging the pieces, opening, middle game and endgame.

In the classical chess game, there are two directions.  The Great chess Champion, Grandmaster    Friðrik Ólafsson has acquainted himself with the Viking chess and gives the following comments:  "The Viking chess is obviously much more complicated than classical chess, because there are three directions on the board and there are more pieces and more hexagons than there are squares.  The moving abilities of the pieces in Viking chess are easy to learn, but it takes a little time to make out the directions.  I suppose that there has to be build up an entirely new Viking chess theory from the beginning.  Still, there are some principles from the classical game which remain.  For example to have a strong center, to develop the pieces quickly and not to weaken the position of the King, but the method of doing this is quite different in Viking chess.

In Viking chess there are generally more moves and more time needed.  The game is more complex than classical chess and therefore there are more possibilities.  The moving of the pieces is also slower than in classical chess.

In spite of the nobility of the classical chess game, efforts have been made from time to time  to change the principle of the game such as by adding or reducing the number of pieces or by making it three dimensional in order to find a new principle,  but usually without satisfactory result, simply because the principles of the classical chess are principles of SQUARES and they remain the same and are unaffected by the number of squares.

With the introduction of Viking chess there has been found a new principle of chess which is the principle of the HEXAGON, but with the chessboard remaining rectangular.

This new principle has been studied by chess players of all levels and the general consensus is that the best way to describe it would be the „ principle of HEXAGONAL CHESS“.