Congo (chess variant)

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.

Consequently, Congo also has no draw by stalemate—stalemate is simply an extreme form of zugzwang, resulting in a loss for the stalemated player.

The lion moves and captures one step orthogonally or diagonally in any direction—the same as a king in chess.

The lion also has the special power to capture the enemy lion by moving as a chess queen across the river along an unobstructed file or diagonal—like the special "flying general" move of a xiangqi general.

If two steps away, the move or capture must be in a straight line, and the intervening square is jumped (whether occupied or not, unlike the xiangqi elephant which is blocked by a diagonally adjacent piece).

When past the river, it can also move (but not capture) one or two steps straight backward (without jumping).

If the monkey drowns after completing a multi-capture move, the captures it made are still legal.