MicroChess

the first commercially successful chess program for 6502 and 8080/Z80 based microcomputers, such as KIM-1 and TRS-80, developed by Peter Jennings in 1976. MicroChess 1.5 was base for the programs for the dedicated Commodore ChessMate (1978) and the Novag Chess Champion MK II (1979). || toc =Images=
 * Home * Engines * MicroChess**
 * [[image:4-1.MicroChess Drawing.PETER_JENNINGS.062303070.lg.jpg link="http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=doc-431614f6d7c21"]] ||~  || **MicroChess**,
 * llustration from Microchess, 1977 ca. ||~  ||^   ||

KIM-1

 * [[image:MicroChessKim1.jpg width="560" link="http://www.digibarn.com/collections/games/microchess/index.html"]] ||
 * MicroChess on the KIM-1 ||

TRS-80

 * [[image:4-1.microchess_screenshot.L062302022.JENNINGS.lg.jpg width="560" link="http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=stl-431e1a0807480"]] ||
 * Microchess 1.5 on TRS-80 ||

=Development= Peter Jennings in his Oral History about the development of MicroChess on the KIM-1 :

|| =Point Values= The point values for 16 pieces, king (11), queen (10), rooks (6), bishops (4), knights (4), and pawns (2) were defined as preinitialized array of 16 bytes, apparently in half pawn units, which overestimates pawns by todays standards : code POINTS    db  $0B, $0A, $06, $06, $04, $04, $04, $04 db $02, $02, $02, $02, $02, $02, $02, $02 code

=Programming Topics= > 6502 Assembly
 * Color Flipping
 * Piece-Lists

=Namesake= The namesake **Microchess 3**, released in 1983 by //Norgayer Software// for the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128, is an alias of the 1981 program PetChess, developed by Philidor Software   , which was, according to Mike Watters, written by Mark Taylor.

=See also=
 * 6502
 * 8080
 * Arduino
 * Chess Champion MK II
 * Commodore ChessMate
 * KIM-1
 * Novag Micro Chess
 * TRS-80
 * Z80

=Publications=
 * Peter Jennings (**1976**). //[|MicroChess, a Chess playing program for the 6502 Microcomputer]//. [|pdf], Courtesy of Peter Jennings, The Computer History Museum
 * Peter Jennings (**1977**). //[|MicroChess, a Chess playing program for the 8080 Microcomputer]//. [|pdf], Courtesy of Peter Jennings, The Computer History Museum
 * [|Microchess Load Instructions], [|pdf] from The Computer History Museum
 * [|Microchess Order Form], 1976 ca, [|pdf] from The Computer History Museum
 * [|Microchess source code], [|pdf] from The Computer History Museum
 * Peter Jennings (**1978**). //Microchess 1.5 Versus Dark Horse//. BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 3 » Dark Horse
 * //[|What's New? Computer chess; Microchess 1.5; Boris]//, BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 10, pp. 193, [|pdf] from The Computer History Museum » Boris
 * John F. White (**1981**). //[|Survey-Chess Games]//. Your Computer, [|August/September 1981]

=External Links= > [|Microchess for the Kim-1] > [|Manual] > [|6502 source code]
 * [|Microchess] by Peter Jennings
 * [|Microchess from Wikipedia]
 * [|DigiBarn Games: MicroChess 1.5 on the TRS-80 Model 1] » TRS-80
 * [|Classic Computer Chess - ... The programs of yesteryear] by Carey, hosted by the [|Internet Archive]
 * [|Aart's Commodore 64 Page] by Aart Bik » Commodore 64
 * [|Secret Weapons of Commodore: Microchess] by [|Cameron Kaiser]
 * [|Computer Schach] by Andre Adrian (German)
 * [|Commodore 64 Emulator - Computer Chess Game Collection - Microchess], The Spacious Mind
 * [|Early Copy Protection on the Apple II], [|Fadden.com] » Apple II, Sargon
 * [|6502 Microchess on an Arduino] » Arduino
 * [|KIM Uno - Summary] - KIM-1 replica with MicroChess

=References= =What links here?= include page="MicroChess" component="backlinks" limit="40"
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