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What do you think of it? The review at sega-16 is merciless, although it draws a comparison with Chessmaster, which was a famous program converted pretty much everywhere...

I'm not a chess person but the presentation looks pretty good to me. Given that it's an 8-bit chess engine it can't be as good as modern efforts, but for an amateur I guess it's fine. The processing time on the higher levels can be pretty extreme though. I've only heard of people beating that with software helping.

There's an interesting interview with the programmer in the Sega Master System Visual Compendium. It mentions how he worked with a chess master to develop the AI. The game also has some pretty good sampled audio.

I'm not sure why Sega-16 posts so many reviews trashing SMS games... they really should be written by people who understand and appreciate the Master System.

I think it would be cool to have competitions between the various chess programs available for 8-bit consoles. (I assume it would really be a competition at purely a software level, although many people would no doubt think of it as the consoles competing.)

Yeah, I've read the interview on Compendium, which prompted me to check the game. If I understand the piece correctly, the game was based on a pre-existing engine by this person:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Levy_(chess_player)

I don't understand the reviewer at sega-16 when he criticizes the visual aspect, which honestly looks quite good, all considered.

Then again, video chess for 2600 (1979, 4k ROM) seems to permit "en passant" capture rule, so it's a bit underwhelming not to find it on a 2meg program from 1991...

It seems that there's a lot of old chess engines comparisons out there:

VCS vs Intellivision:

MSX Ultra Chess:

https://vanheusden.com/misc/blog/2018-09-08.php

Author	Message
Aleste Joined: 20 Sep 2019 Posts: 33 Location: Italy	Let's discuss Sega Chess Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 10:06 am Last edited by Aleste on Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
Aleste Joined: 20 Sep 2019 Posts: 33 Location: Italy	What do you think of it? The review at sega-16 is merciless, although it draws a comparison with Chessmaster, which was a famous program converted pretty much everywhere...

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 12:05 pm
	I'm not a chess person but the presentation looks pretty good to me. Given that it's an 8-bit chess engine it can't be as good as modern efforts, but for an amateur I guess it's fine. The processing time on the higher levels can be pretty extreme though. I've only heard of people beating that with software helping.

ian Joined: 01 Mar 2006 Posts: 85 Location: Essex, UK	Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:22 pm
ian Joined: 01 Mar 2006 Posts: 85 Location: Essex, UK	There's an interesting interview with the programmer in the Sega Master System Visual Compendium. It mentions how he worked with a chess master to develop the AI. The game also has some pretty good sampled audio.

Centrale Joined: 06 Apr 2015 Posts: 89	Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 4:48 pm
Centrale Joined: 06 Apr 2015 Posts: 89	I'm not sure why Sega-16 posts so many reviews trashing SMS games... they really should be written by people who understand and appreciate the Master System. I think it would be cool to have competitions between the various chess programs available for 8-bit consoles. (I assume it would really be a competition at purely a software level, although many people would no doubt think of it as the consoles competing.)

Aleste Joined: 20 Sep 2019 Posts: 33 Location: Italy	Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:37 pm Last edited by Aleste on Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:11 am; edited 1 time in total
Aleste Joined: 20 Sep 2019 Posts: 33 Location: Italy	Yeah, I've read the interview on Compendium, which prompted me to check the game. If I understand the piece correctly, the game was based on a pre-existing engine by this person: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Levy_(chess_player) I don't understand the reviewer at sega-16 when he criticizes the visual aspect, which honestly looks quite good, all considered. Then again, video chess for 2600 (1979, 4k ROM) seems to permit "en passant" capture rule, so it's a bit underwhelming not to find it on a 2meg program from 1991...

Aleste Joined: 20 Sep 2019 Posts: 33 Location: Italy	Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:28 am
Aleste Joined: 20 Sep 2019 Posts: 33 Location: Italy	It seems that there's a lot of old chess engines comparisons out there: VCS vs Intellivision: MSX Ultra Chess: https://vanheusden.com/misc/blog/2018-09-08.php

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