How to Play Super Chess

Super Chess, written by Chris Whittington and published by Kuma in 1984, is a chess program for the Einstein with seven levels of play, from replying in a few seconds to thinking for hours. It draws the board in colour, keeps a list of the moves, suggests a move when you are stuck, and has an analyse mode for setting up any position you like.

This guide takes you through a game, from loading to checkmate, and then through analyse mode. Everything here was done in MAME with the library's Super Chess disc, and checked against the original Super Chess manual.

Loading

The disc starts by itself and stops at the DOS prompt, 0:. Type CHESS and press ENTER. After about 12 seconds the title appears, with the question Play, Analyse or Help ?

Under MAME, set up the Einstein as in Setting Up MAME. The download holds the disc in several formats; use the .mfi file for side A:

mame einstein -window -flop1 SUPCHESS_A_SUPERCHESS.mfi

Setting up a game

Super Chess asks three questions. Answer each with a single key; there is no need to press ENTER.

1. Play, Analyse or Help ? Press P to play.
2. Do you want White or Black ? Press W or B.
3. Select look ahead, (0-6) Press a number from 0 to 6 for the level.

The level sets how far ahead the computer looks, and so how long it takes over each move. The manual gives these as rough times:

The real time depends on the position. In our games, level 0 answered at once, level 1 in about 8 seconds and level 2 in about 45 seconds. Start at 0 or 1.

The screen

• The board has the files a to h along the bottom and the ranks 1 to 8 up the side, so every square has a name such as e4. White starts at the bottom.
• The move list, top left, numbers each move, with yours under YOU and the computer's under ME.
• Beside the board are the level and the side the computer is playing.

Making a move

Type the square the piece is on, then the square it is going to. To move the king's pawn two squares, type E2E4. The move is made as soon as you type the fourth character; there is no ENTER. Capital or small letters both work.

The computer replies, and its move goes in the list in small letters. If you type a move that is not allowed, it says Illegal move and waits for another.

A few moves need a word of explanation:

• Castling: type the king's move, and the rook comes with it. To castle on the king's side as White, type E1G1. The move list shows it as 0-0.
• Promotion: the manual says to move the pawn to the last rank as normal, and that it always becomes a queen.
• En passant: the manual says to type the capturing pawn's square and the square it moves to, like any other capture.

Getting help during a game

When it is your turn, three letters do something other than make a move:

R puts the computer's suggestion in the move list, in small letters, and then waits. The suggestion is not played: type it yourself, or any other move. Early in the game, while the computer is still playing from its book of openings, it has no suggestion to give and says Illegal move instead.

S is handy when you want to see what the computer would do. It chooses a move for you, shows it in small letters in your column, and replies.

Winning, losing and starting again

At checkmate the move list shows CHECK MATE and who has won. Press H to go back to Play, Analyse or Help ?

To give up a game, press X when it is your turn. That also takes you back to Play, Analyse or Help ? From there:

• P starts a new game with the pieces back in their starting places.
• A goes into analyse mode with the position from the game you were playing.
• H shows the help screen. Press a letter key to leave it.

Analyse mode

Analyse mode lets you change the position on the board: to try out an idea, set up a puzzle from a book, or carry on a game that has gone wrong. Choose A at Play, Analyse or Help ?

At Square to change? you can type:

After a square, Super Chess asks three more questions, each answered with a single key:

1. Piece type? (0PNBRQK) Pawn, kNight, Bishop, Rook, Queen or King, or 0 to empty the square.
2. Piece colour? W or B.
3. Piece moved yet? Y or N. This matters for a king or rook that might still castle: answer N if it should still be allowed to.

Setting up a checkmate

Here is a short example: a back-rank mate in one for White. Starting from a cleared board:

1. Type CL. The kings are left on e1 and e8.
2. Type H8, K, B, N to put a black king on h8.
3. Type E8, 0 to take the other black king away.
4. Type G7, P, B, N and H7, P, B, N for two black pawns.
5. Type A1, R, W, Y for a white rook.

Now press X to leave analyse mode. Super Chess asks three questions:

1. Do you want White or Black ? You can change sides here.
2. Select look ahead, (0-6) You can change the level.
3. Whose move is it ? W or B. The manual says that choosing the computer's side makes it move next, which you can use to have it take over your move, or even play the whole game by itself.

Answer W, 0 and W, then type A1A8.

Changing the colours

V at Square to change? shows the colours you can choose, from 0 for black to 7 for white, and asks in turn for the colour of the light pieces, the dark pieces, the light squares and the dark squares. Press 8 to leave one as it is. Each change shows on the board straight away.

Quick reference

If you played Super Chess on the Einstein back in the day, we would like to hear from you. The contact form is at tatungbytes.co.uk/contact.