ScuzzBlog: Diaries July 2023
Entry 5th July 2023: Post 1: 1K ZX Chess - Write your own AI.
1K ZX Chess - Write your own AI.
I guess one of my first encounters with artificial intelligence
was playing chess on the ZX81. Evidently the ZX81 was quite tricky
to create games for in its native state with just 1K of memory.
If you look at the section regarding memory for the ZX81 in the
manual you will see RAM identified as 'Note Pad' and is addressed
at between 16384 to 17407 which is 1023 BYTES.
I understand that one of the most adventurous challenges for the
ZX81 was to create a chess game that worked within those 1023 of
memory. And so was born 1K ZX Chess. It really is a significant
achievement to not only program a board game but also give you
the opportunity to play the computer as though it was another
player in your midst.
Impressive enough as a game but even more fascinating was the
release in Jan and Feb of 1983 of the coding for the game in the
magazine Your Computer. There was a very good article about chess
in December 1981 of Your Computer some twelve months earlier.
The magazine reminds the reader that whilst they may use the code
for their own use they may not sell this for financial gain. I
mean how utterly trusting.
So there you go get the magazines and start programming your very
own AI in BASIC no less and all for a 1000 BYTES.
I was lucky enough to have the 16K RAM expansion so I bought the
16K game by Micro-Gen. The Spectrum version is still the most
popular game I have for that platform.
I have to say I found the whole 1K barrier for the ZX81 quite a
challenge in my first months with the computer, hence the early
purchase of the Panda expansion pack.
I'd like to see any programmer active today create anything of any
value using just 1K of memory. That's a stand alone program that
achieves anything like as entertaining as 1K Chess. Incredible. It
really was a mini AI marvel and only forty years old.
1K ZX Chess - Write your own AI.
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Last updated 5th July 2023
Chandraise Kingdom
Keep the Faith
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