1K ZX Chess
{{Short description|1982 video game}}
{{Infobox video game
|title = 1K ZX Chess
|image= 1K ZX Chess - Sinclair - ZX81.jpg
|caption=Box cover
|developer=
|publisher=
|designer=David Horne
|genre=Abstract strategy
|modes= Single-player
|platforms= Sinclair ZX81
}}
1K ZX Chess is a 1982 chess program for the unexpanded Sinclair ZX81.
Description
1K ZX Chess's code takes up only 672 bytes in memory,{{Cite news |url=https://archive.org/stream/YourComputer_198302/YourComputer8302#page/n99/mode/2up |title=Full ZX-81 Chess in 1K |last=Horne |first=David |date=February 1983 |work=Your Computer |access-date=5 March 2018 |pages=100–102}} but implements chess rules except for castling, promotion, and en passant, including a computer opponent.{{r|gilbert198303}} It was the smallest implementation of chess on any computer at the time.
Developer David Horne discussed 1K ZX Chess and published the full source code as a type-in program in a series of articles in Your Computer in 1982 and 1983.{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/your-computer-magazine-1982-12/YourComputer_1982_12#page/n67/mode/2up | title=Chess in 1K | work=Your Computer | date=December 1982 | accessdate=21 January 2015 | author=Horne, David | pages=68–69}}{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/your-computer-magazine-1983-01/YourComputer_1983_01#page/n79/mode/2up | title=1K Chess | work=Your Computer | date=January 1983 | accessdate=21 January 2015 | author=Horne, David | pages=81, 83}}{{r|horne198302}}
Reception
Popular Computing Weekly in 1982 called 1K ZX Chess "one of the most interesting ZX tapes to pass through our office in recent weeks". It approved of the computer displaying moves while considering them and noted "the skills which went into writing a chess program in 1K of machine code. Is there anyone reading this who could even contemplate doing the same?" The magazine concluded, "Despite the limitations this is one cassette, at £3, which I would recommend."{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/popular-computing-weekly-1982-07-15/PopularComputing_Weekly_Issue_1982-07-15#page/n11/mode/2up | title=1K ZX Chess | work=Popular Computing Weekly | date=1982-07-15 | accessdate=1 February 2015 | author=Scot, Duncan | pages=12}} Sinclair User in 1983 stated that "it takes some technical wizardry to squeeze this kind of game into the unexpanded ZX81". The magazine praised the game's quick loading speed, and found that it "makes its moves very fast for the amount of memory available for it".{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/sinclair-user-magazine-012/SinclairUser_012_Mar_1983#page/n61/mode/2up | title=Sinclair acts to improve the standard of its named software | work=Sinclair User | date=March 1983 | accessdate=28 January 2015 | author=Gilbert, John | pages=62–63}} Home Computing Weekly gave the game three out of five stars, criticizing the confusing user interface but stating that "it still produces play which needs some thought to beat".{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/home-computing-weekly-001/Home_Computing_Weekly_001#page/n21/mode/2up | title=Which ZX81 programs are best? | work=Home Computing Weekly | date=1983-03-08 | accessdate=1 February 2015 | author=Elder, Ray | pages=21–22}} Tim Harding wrote in a 1985 book on computer chess that "the man who did it must be some sort of genius". While describing 1K ZX Chess{{'}} quality of play as "so appalling that it would be hard to make it beat you" and criticizing the backward algebraic notation, he concluded that "the program is nevertheless a fantastic technical achievement".{{cite book | authorlink=Tim Harding (chess player) | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pECeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA161 | title=The New Chess Computer Book | publisher=Pergamon Press | author=Harding, T. D. | year=1985 | edition=2nd | pages=161 | isbn=9781483140322 |editor1=Price, Jill |editor2=Levy, David N. L. | series=Pergamon Chess Series}}
1K ZX Chess came in second place for best software in a poll of ZX81 users. Retrogaming Times Monthly described it as "history's greatest game programming feat";{{cite news | url=http://my.stratos.net/~hewston95/RTM56/RTM56.html#ZX81 | title=The Thrill of Defeat: Catching the 1k Bug | work=Retrogames Times Monthly | date=January 2009 | accessdate=21 January 2015 | author=Sabbatini, Mark}} Kuro5hin agreed, calling 1K ZX Chess "the greatest program ever written". BootChess author Olivier Poudade praised 1K ZX Chess{{'}}s code, stating that at first writing a smaller chess program "seemed impossible ... Horne had nailed it so much already". Poudade acknowledged replicating some of Horne's methods as he could not improve them.{{r|stokelwalker20150920}}
See also
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://users.ox.ac.uk/~uzdm0006/scans/1kchess/ Full ZX-81 Chess in 1K]
- [http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/tape/1KZXChess 1K ZX Chess] ZX81 Collection entry with the original inlay scan and program listing. An emulator is available on the site to play the game online.
{{chess|state=collapsed}}
Category:Commercial video games with freely available source code
Category:Single-player video games