board (hexagonal/square) and wooden pieces to be distributed in the West European market. July: An open Hexagonal Chess Tournament was held on 10 and 11 July in the famous Sokolniki Park in Moscow. Players from Moscow and elsewhere in the USSR took part in the competition. First place and the "Moscow Trophy" were taken by F. Goncharov. Second was S. Seryubin and Third V. Goltyapin. Judging from the reports received, this tournament has considerably accelerated the development and popularity of Hex Chess in the USSR. Further tournaments, including international team matches (over-the-board and correspondence) are being organized. Open International Tournament held in Pecs, Hungary, 24–31 July. This tournament was organized by the President of the Hungarian Hexagonal Chess Association, Mihaly Gelencser, and sponsored by the Zsolnay porcelain factory in Pecs, which also donated the "Zsolnay Cup" as well as other prizes of porcelain figures. The winner of the Tournament was Laszlo Rudolf (Hungary). Second place was taken by Simon Triggs (Great Britain). September: Fifth British Championship held in London. Simon Triggs (19) of Garston, Hertfordshire, won the title of British Hexagaonal Chess Champion for the third time in succession. Press Association attended and wrote lengthy background. All the "quality newspapers" took photographs. LBC Radio and BBC Radio London broadcast interviews. Shafran's hexagonal chess Invented by Soviet geologist Isaak Grigorevich Shafran in 1939 and registered in 1956. It was demonstrated at the Worldwide Chess Exhibition in Leipzig in 1960. The board is shaped as an irregular hexagon with nine and ten , comprising 70 cells as opposed to 91 in Gliński's board. The files are labelled a to i; the oblique ranks running diagonally from 10 to 4 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 and kings 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 make a three-step initial move; the b-, c-, g-, and h-pawns can make a double-step initially; and the a- and i-pawns