Battle Chess is a video game version of chess with 2.5D graphics and fighting animations showing the result of one piece moving onto the square of another. It was developed and released by Interplay Entertainment for the Amiga in 1988 and ported to many other systems, including the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, Acorn Archimedes, Amiga CD32, Amiga CDTV, Apple IIGS, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, FM Towns, Nintendo Entertainment System, MacOS, PC-98, X68000, and Microsoft Windows. In 1991, Battle Chess Enhanced was released by Interplay for IBM PC compatibles and Macintosh with improved VGA graphics and a symphonic musical score played from the CD-ROM.
Battle Chess follows the same rules as traditional chess, with pieces moving in an animated fashion and battles playing out so that the capturing piece defeats its target. Furthermore, when checkmate is delivered, the checkmating piece fights and defeats the king. Since there are six types of pieces for each color, and a king cannot check (let alone capture) another king, there are a total of 35 different battle animations.[2] The rook, for example, turns into a rock monster and kills a pawn by smashing its head, and the rook kills the queen by eating her. There are some pop-culture homages; the knight versus knight animation references the black knight fight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the king versus bishop fight pastiches the short battle between Indiana Jones and a swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The game can be also played in a 2D version with no animations, and the Amiga CDTV version has a fully voiced introduction describing the movements of the pieces for the benefit of beginners. Digitized sound is used in the MS-DOS version for all battle sound effects and is played through the PC speaker, without the need for a sound card, using a technique akin to RealSound.
Battle Chess was the first title developed and published by Interplay Entertainment themselves after ending their relationship with Electronic Arts, besides Neuromancer. The game was featured in the 1992 film Knight Moves about a chess grandmaster who is accused of several murders.[3] Battle Chess producer and Interplay's founder Brian Fargo expressed his fondness for the game in a 2006 interview, although he added that he did not think there would be much of an audience for it today.[4]
Ken St. Andre reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that "Quibbles aside, every chess player will want a copy of this program, and every Amiga owner owes it to him/herself to see Battlechess in action. Highly recommended."[2]
The Amiga version received favourable reviews from magazines due to its comical battle sequences which were advanced (for the time) in terms of graphics, animation and sound. German game magazine ASM, however, criticized the weak chess AI.[14] In a review of the 3DO version, Mike Weigand of Electronic Gaming Monthly stated, "If you are a chess fan, then you may want to check this title out."[9]
In 1994 Computer Gaming World said of the remake, Battle Chess Enhanced, that "Better artwork, smoother animations, and a much stronger chess algorithm than its disk predecessors make the CD version a good buy".[15]
A sequel titled Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess was released in 1991, based on xiangqi, commonly known as "Chinese chess". The next year's Battle Chess 4000 spoofed science fiction movies and television series (such as a battle sequence involving the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey) and used a clay-animation art style similar to ClayFighter.
Battle Chess follows the same rules as traditional chess; the battles always play out so that the capturing piece defeats its target. Since there are six types of pieces for each color, and a king cannot capture a king, there are 35 battle animations. The rook, for example, turns into a rock monster and kills a pawn by smashing his head. There are some pop-culture homages; the knight versus knight animation references the black knight fight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail , and the king versus bishop fight pastiches the short battle between Indiana Jones and a swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Battle Chess is a quite typical chess game, but it comes with a twist: all pieces are represented by small, realistic figures that walk around on the chessboard, and when one piece takes another, they both take part in an animated battle. There is a different animation for each permutation, depending on which pieces are capturing or being captured. You can also play in 2D without animation.
The game can be also played in a 2D version with no animations, and the Amiga CDTV version features a fully voiced introduction describing the movements of the pieces for the benefit of beginners. Digitized sound is utilized in the DOS version for all battle sound effects and is played through the PC speaker, without the need for a sound card, using a technique akin to RealSound.
Battle Chess,
a mass market chess program famous for its animated move and specially capture sequences in 3D mode, released for various home and personal computer platforms as well as video game consoles, beside others for Apple II, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC, Apple Macintosh, Acorn Archimedes, 3DO and Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was developed by a team around Brian Fargo and Michael Quarles, including Jay Patel, Bruce Schlickbernd, and Todd Camasta [2], released in 1988 by Fargo's company Interplay soon after ending the relationship with Electronic Arts [3].
I just got my deck yesterday, Tried to install Battle Chess: game of kings. Steam lists it as unknown but it runs good except once the chess begins, the board flickers. Has anyone gotten this game to run properly and how?
It took 2,000 years for someone to make chess better! The most challenging game on earth comes to life in Battle Chess. An entire medieval world at war is reflected on the checkered field. Everyone who's ever had a knight take a pawn has seen that capture as more than one piece replacing another on the board.
In Fog of War chess you have to use your intuition and also your knowledge of chess in order to predict where your opponent will move his pieces, because most of the time they'll be hidden in the fog!
In Fog of War chess players will not be notified when the king is in check, and so will not be forced to move out of check. This means that if your opponent does not realize they are in check and do not move out of check, you can capture their king and win the game!
In 16 years of keeping up with online chess software, one of the most frequent question is, "Where can I get Battle Chess?" For those of you not familiar with Battle Chess, it brought our game to life by combining a chess logic system with colorful, humorous, and dramatic three-dimensional animations. For its time (1988), it was very cool.
Fast forward to 1991 and Battle Chess Enhanced by Interplay was released and available for the PC. But the last version was released in 1994 and soon Battle Chess was not playable on Windows PCs. The franchise lagged and became obsolete.
In 2010 Topware developed a similiar program to Battle Chess called Battle vs Chess. Immediately, Interplay took them to court for copyright infringement, preventing the game from being released to the public. The court case was settled in Interplay's favor which led to the release in 2014 of Battle Chess: Game of Kings, playable on Steam.
In most respects, it is an ordinary chess program, not even as smart as most PC chess programs of the time. But it is different in one way: The chess pieces are all animated, and every time a piece was moved, you can see an animation. Every time there is a capture, the capturing piece fights a little battle with the captured piece on the board. Since the rules of chess are still in effect, the result of these battles is always a Foregone Conclusion, but the battles are fun to watch, especially on early plays (watching the same animation for the millionth time, however...)
There are some pop-culture homages; the knight versus knight animation references the black knight fight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the king versus bishop fight pastiches the short battle between Indiana Jones and a swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Lots of computer chess games capture the basics of chess. Only Battle Chess brings chess to life by combining a magnificent chess logic system with colorful, humorous, and dramatic three-dimensional animations.
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Carlsen, who won the world chess championships five consecutive times since 2013, the last of which came after defeating Nepomniachtchi to win the 2021 edition, noted that he would only defend the title if the challenger was Iranian (who now represents France) Alireza Firouzja.
"My first thought was that I wished my mother were still alive to see someone else do what I did, or similar! Walking away from what everyone expects, or demands, you do takes courage. My sympathies are with Magnus. Of course, Magnus will still be playing -- he's playing right now in Zagreb. But he's doing what he decided is best for his goals, not just personally to live his creative life, but to promote chess without fighting with FIDE guys about how he spends his time," Kasparov tweeted.
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