CHESS GAMES BY CHRISTIAAN FREELING (CONGO ⌐ DEMIAN FREELING).
PART 00 - PART 12. THIS IS PART 07.
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General
It was Christmas 1982 when my son Demian, then seven years old bordering on eight, was recovering from the mumps. Ever since the age of four or five he had been playing Chess and Chad, and we had also occasionally tried our hands at Xiangqi. Since all my Chess systems are subject to some sort of underlying structural logic, I started wondering what a more magically inclined mind might come up with, so I asked Demian to make a Chess game. To keep him within limits, I suggested a 7x7 board with Kings on d1 and d7, three pieces on either side, and seven pawns. What he came up with was basically Congo as it is. There's a lot of Xiangqi in it. Initially Demian hadn't realized that the rivers in Congo and Xiangqi are different. In Xiangqi play is on the intersections, hence a piece can only cross the river, but never enter it. In Congo play is on the squares, hence pieces may end up in the river. So he had invented the 'drowning rule', logically excluding the Crocodile. The additional King's move for the Giraffe came as a result of my question how many squares it could visit as it was (which was: the Giraffe without the King's move). The Monkey's right to multiple capture was a suggestion made by Wim van Weezep (one of the W&W of Chad), which was happily received by the inventor. In the eighties Congo was more popular in 'Fanatic' than any other Chess game except Chad. It has also pride of place on the cover of the Encyclopedia, though in the text the roles of Giraffe and Monkey have been confused.
Rules
Diagram 1 shows the board with the pieces in initial position.
>>> The object of Congo is to capture the opponent's Lion. There's no rule against a Lion moving
into check: it is simply captured. Since player's must move on their turn, this effectively
makes stalemate a win.
>>> The Lion is the proverbial King of this jungle. With one exception he may not leave his 3x3
castle. Inside he moves and captures as the King in Chess.
>>> The mutual check rule: If Lions face one another along an open file or diagonal, both are in
check and the player whose turn it is can can capture and win. This is the exception on the
above rule.
Diagram 2 shows the mutually excluded squares. To appreciate diagram 3 one should know that:
>>> With the exception of the Crocodile, a piece or pawn moving into the river must leave it next
turn or drown (which means it is taken of the board at the end of the turn).
>>> The Zebra moves as the Knight in Chess.
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The Zebra in diagram 3 will drown after the black Lion moves to the c-file: if it moves it exposes its Lion and if it doesn't it drowns and likewise exposes its Lion. So white's only options are interposing on c3 (or c5 or c6, dependent on the black Lion's position) or moving his Lion to the d-file. In either case the Zebra drowns.
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>>> The Elephant moves one or two squares along ranks and files. The two-square move is a
jump to the target-square, unaffected by interposing pieces of either colour.
>>> The Giraffe may move and capture jumping to the second square along ranks, files and
diagonals. The move is not affected by interposing pieces of either colour. In addition the
Giraffe may move, but not capture, using the King's move in Chess.
In diagram 4 the Elephant can capture either pawn. Two Elephants leapfrogging a file, are known as 'the Elephant roll'.
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>>> The Crocodile moves as the King in Chess. In addition, when on land it controls the file
towards the river, including the river square, and when in the river it controls the whole
length of it. Crocodiles don't drown.
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>>> The Monkey moves like the King in Chess, but does not capture this way. A Monkey captures
a piece by jumping over it along rank file or diagonal, to the square immedialely beyond
(which must be vacant for the capture to take place). A Monkey may - but is not obliged to -
make multiple captures in the same turn. During a multiple capture it may visit a square,
including riversquares, more than once, but it may not jump the same piece more than once.
The drowning rule only applies if the Monkey ends its move in the river.
If the Monkey jumps the Lion, this terminates both the move and the game.
In diagram 8 the latter situation is illustrated. To appreciate diagram 9 it's good to realize that either black pawn is able to capture the Zebra should it move to d4, but since this loses the game we'll assume neither is willing. There are two threats to be parried: Zb5+ losing the Elephant and Zf5+ losing the Croc. This leaves only moving the Lion. Alas, the c-file is covered by the white Lion, e6 is covered by the Zebra and e7 doesn't solve the problem of losing a Crocodile.
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Congo pawns are very logical in their forward movement, less so in their abilities of retreat.
Yet, there it is:
>>> The pawn moves and captures one square straight or diagonally forward. Across the river it
may retreat one or two squares straight backward, but it may neither capture nor jump a piece
in doing so (see diagram 10). A pawn promotes to Superpawn upon reaching the back rank. A
Superpawn has the additional power to move & capture one square sideways. It may now also
retreat in a diagonal direction, and this ability is no longer dependent on its position with
regard to the river.
Strategy
Initially the forces are separated from each other by the river. This usually leads to a build-up of opposing pawns along the riverbank, followed by a more or less dramatic pawn exchange. Don't lose one in that stage! After the exchange there is more room for the pieces to manoeuver and the goals become more concrete. A good goal is getting a covered pawn across.
In this highly tactical phase the loss of a piece or pawn may very well lose the game. One should realize that in Congo, quite unlike Chess for instance, a Lion and any piece (including a pawn) will always win against a bare Lion, so driving the advantage of a pawn home will eventually win the game!
The one important game in this compilation is Grand Chess. Anyone who wrote a good Chess program and has half a mind to modify it into a Grand Chess program and put a demo on the Net on a fifty fifty basis regarding the codes, is welcome to contact me at the following address:
Christiaan Freeling
Pollenbrink 181
7544 AW Enschede
The Netherlands
+31 53 769075
Net: freeling@euronet.nl
All games: ⌐ Christiaan Freeling, except Congo: ⌐ Demian Freeling.
