[Editor's Note: This was moved from a submission page Max asked to be deleted. He had previously claimed that Shafran's Hexagonal Chess was unplayable, and H. G. Muller had asked him why.]
When you play 1.e5 in Shafran's chess, after black's response you can move your bishop to e2 and then attack both black rooks simultaneously.
This leads to forced defensive progressions like b5 and h8 (the black knight won't work due to a3). It's roughly like playing 1.e4 a6 and h6 in orthodox chess. After that, you may want to move like a3 or h8, and after exchanges end up with an open vertical. Note that your rooks will be safe since the black bishop cannot attack them both at the same time. I didn't calculate the sequences where rooks will leave their positions, but I guess it would be challenging for black to keep his rook from being attacked by white minor pieces.
Mirrored response (1.e5 e6) would be devastating for black since after exchanges white queen will start destroying black by capturing on h9. You cannot respond the same way due to check sequences.
I am not a Shogi player so I cannot make any assumptions, but I guess it's more different from hexagonal chess.
[Editor's Note: This was moved from a submission page Max asked to be deleted. He had previously claimed that Shafran's Hexagonal Chess was unplayable, and H. G. Muller had asked him why.]
When you play 1.e5 in Shafran's chess, after black's response you can move your bishop to e2 and then attack both black rooks simultaneously. This leads to forced defensive progressions like b5 and h8 (the black knight won't work due to a3). It's roughly like playing 1.e4 a6 and h6 in orthodox chess. After that, you may want to move like a3 or h8, and after exchanges end up with an open vertical. Note that your rooks will be safe since the black bishop cannot attack them both at the same time. I didn't calculate the sequences where rooks will leave their positions, but I guess it would be challenging for black to keep his rook from being attacked by white minor pieces.
Mirrored response (1.e5 e6) would be devastating for black since after exchanges white queen will start destroying black by capturing on h9. You cannot respond the same way due to check sequences.
I am not a Shogi player so I cannot make any assumptions, but I guess it's more different from hexagonal chess.