Chess Simulator

Chess on a computer from 1990 — not exactly a common idea back then. This isn't a game you'd play to win. It's about whether you can even understand what's happening here.

Chess Simulator is exactly what it promises: a chess simulator on PC. Board, pieces, all that classic stuff. Either you play against the computer, or you pull up two chairs and play with someone physically present. The goal is universally known — checkmate the king. If you thought this would be a fun romp through pawn combinations, think again. This program is more tedious than anything else.

Playing is simple: click a piece, click the target square, done. The graphics are atrocious by today's standards — the board looks like a bland rectangle with numbers and letters, the pieces are mangled pixels. The computer's AI plays below average. It'll give you a chance to gain an advantage by the tenth move. There's nothing here that motivates you to sit down and spend two hours on it. It lacks that punch — interesting presentation, nice animations, some commentary, anything.

In the nineties, this was something — a computer that plays chess without crushing you. Today it's a historical artifact showing just how far behind computer chess simulation was in those hazy early days. There were already better alternatives back then, that's for sure.

If you're hungry for a retro experience and minimalist aesthetics appeal to you, give it a shot. It's not bad, it's just pointless. Like playing chess with a shoe.