Congo (chess variant)

Congo gameboard and starting setup. In the diagram, castles are tan color; the river is blue. Initial positions: giraffes (a-file), monkeys (b-file), elephants (c- and e-files), lions (d-file), crocodiles (f-file), and zebras (g-file). Pawns fill each player's second rank.

Congo is a chess variant invented by Demian Freeling in 1982 when he was nearly 8 years old.[1][2] His father (Dutch abstract games designer Christian Freeling) encouraged him to design a variant using a 7×7 gameboard. Demian was already familiar with chess and xiangqi, and the result blends some features from both. Congo became the second-most popular chess variant at the Fanaat games club in Enschede, the Netherlands.

For his Congo engine, Ed van Zon won "Best of the Zillions" First Contest, Best Chess-Related Category in March 2001.[3]

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
  1. ^ Pritchard (1994), p. 69
  2. ^ Pritchard (2007), p. 147
  3. ^ "Best of Zillions"