Psion Chess

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Psion Chess
Studio Psion Ltd.
Publisher Psion Ltd.
Senior Developer Richard Lang
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1982
platform Atari ST , DOS , Mac OS , Sinclair QL
genre Chess program
Game mode Single player
language English

Psion Chess (proper name: Chess by Psion with Richard Lang ) is a chess program that originally dates back to 1982. It was developed by the English programmer Richard Lang for Psion Ltd. (now Psion Inc.). At the time of its release, it was commercial, but has since been declared freeware .

Chess engine

The chess engine was programmed in assembler . There were versions for Sinclair QL , Atari ST , Mac, PC and Psion Organizer. A version for the ZX Spectrum from 1983 paved the way for PC implementation.

On the Mac, the skill level was around 1793 Elo , while on the Atari ST it reached 1960 Elo. The program also calculated during the player's moves, but this could be switched off.

At the 4th Microcomputer World Championship in Glasgow in 1984, in which 19 programs took part, Psion Chess came in first place with 5 points from seven rounds.

Functions

The program offered several functions that were not yet standard at the time. It contained a save and load function for complete chess games as well as a database with 50 famous historical chess games, the description of which can be found in the manual. Games could be printed out.

Psion Chess made it possible to play in a championship mode that was automatically removed if an action was taken that did not meet tournament conditions, such as withdrawing a move. It recognized position repetitions , Patt , Zuglegalität, en passant , castling and underpromotion .

The playing strength was adjustable in 14 levels, eight further levels could be used for the mate search, for example to solve mate problems.

You could choose between English, French and German.

Graphics and sound

The monochrome program offered support for the Hercules Graphics Card , with which the resolution of 720 × 348 pixels was achieved with dithering to simulate gray levels, but could also be operated on IBM PCs without the Hercules. With an IBM Color Card , 640 × 400 pixels could be achieved without dithering. A higher color depth was possible on the Atari ST.

The chessboard could be viewed in 2D and 3D . In contrast to Battle Chess , standard chess pieces could be seen in the 3D view.

There was a sound effect for trains that came from the system speaker .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.gamespot.com/psion-chess/ (accessed on July 7, 2015)
  2. ↑ Interview with Richard Lang ( Memento from April 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), August 2003
  3. ↑ History of Psion ( Memento January 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on 3lib.ukonline.co.uk (accessed March 5, 2008)
  4. ↑ a b http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-st/psion-chess (accessed on March 5, 2008)
  5. ↑ http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Psion_Chess.html (accessed December 20, 2009)