Cyber Chess

Cyber Chess
Developer(s)	William Tunstall-Pedoe
Publisher(s)	The Fourth Dimension
Platform(s)	Acorn Archimedes
Release	1993^[citation needed]
Genre(s)	Chess

Cyber Chess is a chess-playing computer program developed by William Tunstall-Pedoe.[1][2] It was written for the Acorn Archimedes and published commercially by The Fourth Dimension.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Development

Evaluation of moves was tuned by use of a genetic algorithm.[8]

Gameplay

The game provides play against another human or the computer (at various levels of difficulty). Saved games and graphics export as vector Drawfiles are supported.[9]

Reception

In Acorn User's games review of 1993/94, Cyber Chess was listed number 55 in the Best 100 Games.[10] The game was well received by the magazines Acorn Computing[5] and Archimedes World,[6] but the retail price of £35 was criticised by The Icon Bar in an article about the marketing of RISC OS games.[11]

References

1. Shackle, Eric. "Web Sites Are Wise Bets For Anagrams". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 12, 2012. [...] highly qualified computer boffin, William Tunstall-Pedoe [...] developed a complete commercial chess-playing program, Cyber Chess.
2. Hersee, Andrew (Winter 1993–94). "SuperGram II" (PDF). Eureka. No. 10. p. 13. Retrieved January 17, 2012. William Tunstall-Pedoe is also the author of Cyber Chess, available from The Fourth Dimension [...]
3. Moore, Gareth (July 3, 2000). "Acorn Gaming: Database". Acorn Gaming. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
4. "Cyber Chess". Archive. Vol. 5, no. 12. September 1992. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
5. Sinha, Raj (October 1992). "Cyber Chess...the mating game". Acorn Computing. p. 63. Cyber Chess is the best game of chess on the Archimedes
6. Evans, Jonathan (October 1992). "Cyber Chess". Archimedes World. p. 76. Cyber Chess is being promoted as 'The definitive chess-playing program' for Acorn... a grand claim indeed but the program goes a long way towards fulfilling it
7. Tunstall-Pedoe, William. "CV". Archived from the original on November 14, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2012. I developed a complete commercial chess-playing program from scratch including a high quality chess engine, animated graphics, sound effects and a full state-of-the-art user interface. The product was marketed as Cyber Chess and published by The Fourth Dimension.
8. Tunstall-Pedoe, W. (1991). "Genetic Algorithms Optimising Evaluation Functions". ICCA Journal. 14 (3). International Computer Chess Association: 119–128.
9. Bradforth, David. "Cyber Chess". RISC World. Retrieved January 10, 2012. Cyber Chess is a RISC OS 4 and StrongARM compliant chess program [...] can be played against the computer, at varying levels, or between two players [...] can save the current board setup as a native Cyber Chess file for returning to later; and additionally you can save the board layout as a Draw file.
10. "Games Review", Acorn User, 1994
11. Fountain, Tim (December 7, 2000). "How lack of advertising is still stifling RISC OS". The Icon Bar. Retrieved January 10, 2012. [...] products developed without any real feedback from the market being sold at rip-off prices (Cyber Chess for £35 anyone?). While this price might seem fair to the publishers, it certainly doesn't to the buyers.