Special gaits of the King

In this move, when the above conditions are met, the King is allowed to capture an opponent's piece. It cannot be used to capture a piece that has Knight move when in Check, because this situation of Check disqualifies the King to make the move.

There are five possible hexcacs as a result of the King's Leap, which are shown in the two figures above. The five possible jumps position the King in five different columns: I, H, F, E i D. It is easy to remember the names of the columns, because they coincide, both for White's move and for Black's move, but in particular:

• For White: I5, H6, F6, E5 i D2.
• For Black: I23, H22, F22, E23 i D26.

If we add up the five positions of the King's Leap, with the seven possible from the starting position, there are twelve different moves, which give the King great mobility in his first move, as long as he is not in check.

There are five positions resulting from the King's Leap, positions where the Castling are also defined, the only movement that allows more than one piece of the player to move simultaneously.

In Simple Castling a Rook moves to a position, so that by simultaneously making a King's Leap, the Rook and the King are positioned in adjacent (orthogonally adjacent) hexes.

This move can be made, when:

• The King has yet to make any moves.
• The Rook has also not not made any moves during the game.
• The King is not threatened (in check) at the time of moving.
• The movement of the Rook can be carried out normally, without any piece impeding its path.
• The King's and Rook's end positions are free: a capture cannot be made simultaneously.
• Of course, the King cannot complete the move in a hex threatened by an opponent's piece.
• Nor can it make the move if the king's hex end position is threatened, even if by making the move the rook would shelter the king.

There are three possible moves on the I column with the King's Rook, and two on the D column with the Queen's Rook; on the H column there are four with the King's Rook and two with the Queen's Rook. finally in both column F and E there are two with King's and two with Queen's. In total, there are nineteen different combinations for Simple Castling.

Among the five positions that can be spanned by the King in his Leap, only three have orthogonally adjacent hexes that can be spanned by both Rooks: H, F and H. In these three King's Leaps a double castling is allowed, a move that allows all three pieces to be moved simultaneously.

In double castling both Rooks are moved using a legal move of this piece, i.e. an orthogonal move not prevented by the current position of the pieces on the board. Both Rooks must be positioned in orthogonally adjacent hexes, so that, by completing the move with the addition of the King's Leap, the King is also positioned in a hex orthogonally adjacent to both Rooks. At the end of the move, each of the three pieces is in a hex orthogonally adjacent to the other two.

This move can be made, when:

• The King has yet to make any moves.
• Neither of the two Rooks has yet made any moves during the game.
• The King is not threatened (in check) at the time of moving.
• The movement of each of the Rooks can be carried out normally, without any piece impeding its path.
• The King's and the Rooks's end positions are free: a capture cannot be made simultaneously.
• Of course, the King cannot complete the move in a hex threatened by an opponent's piece.
• Nor can it make the move if the king's hex end position is threatened, even if by making the move any of the rooks would shelter the king.