Colossus Chess
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Colossus Chess | |
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Developer(s) | Martin Bryant |
Publisher(s) | CDS Micro Systems |
Platform(s) | Acorn Electron,[1] Amiga,[2] Amstrad CPC,[3] Amstrad PCW, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family,[4] Atari ST, BBC Micro,[5] Commodore 64,[6][7] Commodore Plus/4,[8][9] Enterprise 64 & 128,[10] IBM PC, MSX,[11] ZX Spectrum[12][13] |
Release date | 19841990 | –
Genre(s) | Chess |
Colossus Chess is a series of chess-playing computer programs developed by Martin Bryant, commercially available for various home computers in the 1980s.
Contents |
[edit] Colossus Chess
Bryant started Colossus Chess in 1983, using his White Knight program,[14] winner of the 1983 European Microcomputer Chess Championship,[15] as a basis. It was developed on an Apple II, but was first commercially released for Commodore 64 as Colossus Chess 2.0 (CDS Micro Systems, 1984). A number of releases for 8-bit microcomputers followed. Version 3.0 was released in 1984, followed by 4.0 in 1985.
Colossus Chess featured time-controlled play with game clocks, an opening book with 3,000 positions, and problem-solving mode that could solve normal mates, selfmates and helpmates.[16] Pondering on opponent's time and a three-dimensional chessboard were introduced in Colossus Chess 4.0. All releases were written in the assembly language of the appropriate CPU;[14] the ZX Spectrum version could examine an average of 170 positions per second.[16]
Uncommon for microcomputer chess programs of the era, Colossus had a full implementation of the rules of chess, including underpromotion, the fifty move rule, draw by repetition, and draw by insufficient material.[16] Colossus was also able to execute all the basic checkmates, including the difficult bishop and knight checkmate.[16]
[edit] Colossus Chess X
The program was subsequently ported to Atari ST (1988), Amiga (1989) and IBM PC (1990) under the title Colossus Chess X. The new releases featured four chess sets[17] and enhanced graphics developed with the assistance of Gary Thomlinson and Carl Cropley.[14] The opening book was extended to 11,000 positions, and the program had the ability to learn from past playing experiences.[17]
[edit] UCI version
No work was done on Colossus Chess from 1991 to 2005, when Martin Bryant wrote a completely new and freely available Windows version conforming to the Universal Chess Interface.[18] It was written in C#, then converted to C for speed, and was finally publicly released in 2006.[18] As of May 2008, the latest version is 2007d.[18]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.xgd.com/id/28722
- ^ http://www.xgd.com/id/37884
- ^ http://www.cpczone.net/index.php?game=2320
- ^ http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?MENU=8&VERSION_ID=1135
- ^ http://www.xgd.com/id/27117
- ^ http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/games/details.php%3FID%3D3030
- ^ http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/games/details.php%3FID%3D518
- ^ http://plus4.emucamp.com/software/Colossuss_Chess_Plus4
- ^ http://www.xgd.com/id/41031
- ^ http://www.xgd.com/id/60367
- ^ http://www.generation-msx.nl/msxdb/softwareinfo/2722
- ^ http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0001018
- ^ http://www.xgd.com/id/69248
- ^ a b c Bryant, Martin. Colossus Chess. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
- ^ Bryant, Martin. White Knight. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
- ^ a b c d . Colossus Chess 4 for Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Retrieved on 2008-06-02. (product manual)
- ^ a b "More from Artworx" (August 1989). ST-Log (35): 11.
- ^ a b c Bryant, Martin. Colossus Chess UCI. Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
[edit] External links
- Colossus home page
- Colossus Chess at MobyGames
- ZZAP!64 review
- Colossus Chess 4.0 instructions (C64)
- http://www.xgd.com/search?q=colossus%20chess
- http://amr.abime.net/amr_search.php?search=colossus+chess&mag_id=0&action=Find
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