UltraChess is a vintage chess game for the 8-bit MSX platform, running on the Z80. [flok] wondered just how capable the game really was, and set forth to test it against a variety of other chess engines.
Having been designed in the 1980s, UltraChess is far from up-to-date as far as the chess software world is concerned. By using the OpenMSX emulator to run the game, [flok] was able to implement scripts to read and write the gamestate in UltraChess, and make it compatible with the Universal Chess Interface. This would allow UltraChess to be played off against a variety of other chess engines to determine its approximate ELO rating.
Mac & Chess Miami
The scripts worked well, and are available on Github for those who wish to tinker further. Unfortunately, [flok] has thus far been unable to determine a rating for UltraChess, as it has lost every single game it has played against other chess engines. This is unsurprising given the limited processing power available, but we’d love to see a tweaked and hotrodded Z80 chess program take on the same challenge. If you’ve done such a thing, let us know, or alternatively you might like to try playing like Harry Potter.
![Mac Hack Chess Mac Hack Chess](/uploads/1/2/6/8/126877916/235640591.jpg)
Mac Hack is a computer chess program written by Richard D. During the late 60s at MIT, Krakauer contributed to the Greenblatt Chess Program aka Mac Hack VI, in developing a 2D Graphics Board for the DEC 340 display used for the main system console of the PDP-6. This constitutes likely for the first GUI of a chess program in 1968. May 07, 2013 He was the main implementor of Maclisp on the PDP-6. He wrote Mac Hack, the first computer program to play tournament-level chess and the first to compete in a human chess tournament. Mac Hack VI, a.k.a. The Greenblatt Chess Program is a chess program that ran on the PDP-6. It was written in MIDAS and was the first computer program to play in a human tournament and be granted a chess rating in 1967. The game was inspired by the Kotok-McCarthy-Program, but improved upon it in design and search width. UltraChess is a vintage chess game for the 8-bit MSX platform, running on the Z80. flok wondered just how capable the game really was, and set forth to test it against a variety of other chess. Also, in 1957, the American Richard D. Greenbelt, from the MIT in Boston, composed the Mac Hack V and let it take an interest in a novice chess competition. The program lost four games and had one draw.