Chesskelet revamped - 269 bytes

[reeagbo]

Hi folks,

It's been a long time. If any of you remembers Chesskelet, I've just released a new version of the tiny chess game. It's much smaller then 2019 version, from 350 bytes down to 269 bytes now.

If you are curious about the details have a look at http://chesskelet.com. Code, snapshots, etc... can be found online

Cheers!
Alex

[Chris23235]

Wow! That's really short, I always thought the VCS Chess was the tiniest you can get. But this is only a fraction of the VCS cartridge.

[arkannoyed]

Oh my word Alex! I thought the project had gone very quiet. We talked before lockdown. Then life happened in between. Amazing achievement. I’m reading through the asm with great interest!!

[uglifruit]

So a full 3d chess game, within 1k then. Eh? Guys? Amiright?

[arkannoyed]

3D Chess 2k19 got down to 497 bytes as a pure display engine alone. I made good progress in logic to the point that it checked legal moves etc, but there was no code to play moves on behalf of the computer. I think it grew to about 700 bytes approx. I will pick it up again when time allows though…promise!!!

[reeagbo]

Oh my word Alex! I thought the project had gone very quiet. We talked before lockdown. Then life happened in between. Amazing achievement. I’m reading through the asm with great interest!!

Hi man. Long time no see.
Actually, it's been in freezer for some time, but I just found some time to work on it.
You may find interesting info under http://chesskelet.epizy.com/dissection.html. I updated the whole dissection.

I also remember the board creation topic we talked about. I have a way to create the board with just 32 bytes. I´ll soon integrate it in my code. It's one shot creation though, it does not allow replay.

[arkannoyed]

32 bytes sounds fun! The board Data layout I’m using takes I think 36 bytes, though I’ll have to check, as it’s been a while.

[reeagbo]

I played a game ChesSkelet vs. Psion Chess and posted it in YouTube. It's so funny...

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Really really amazing, 269 bytes... some posts in this forum are bigger that that...

[hitm4n]

I'm still interested too. Interested in a working playable game but love just the tiny code for the 3d board engine too. Keep going

[Alone Coder]

Where can I find the latest version? The website doesn't work.

[andydansby]

Where can I find the latest version? The website doesn't work.

The site can be found at
http://borialabs.free.nf/chesskelet/?i=1

[flange]

A full FIDE chess, that can even play itself,for the 1k ZX81 and ZX80 has been available for over 7 years now but never seems to be mentioned as opposed to the dreadful 80's effort. Whilst not for the spectrum the code may be adaptable and perhaps of interest to developers.

The ZX81 version can be found here...

https://smmax.sourceforge.net/

[Alone Coder]

The site can be found at
http://borialabs.free.nf/chesskelet/?i=1

I don't see the tiny version (269 bytes) here.

[Lethargeek]

The site can be found at
http://borialabs.free.nf/chesskelet/?i=1

3 of 5 links (including source and snapshots) are 404

[rothers]

I love stuff like this, when I was a teenager I applied for a job programming Gameboy colour/advance games and was asked to make a bomber man game in under 500 bytes. I managed it and still didn't get the job because I didn't include the Nintendo logo, so the game didn't run on real hardware - but including it added something like 200 bytes...

Still I love these challenges and ways of thinking outside the box with code.

[Wall_Axe]

With all that free space you could implement a decent minimax algorithm. It would be difficult to implement in assembly of course

[Einar Saukas]

BRAINIAC is a recursive Minimax algorithm with alpha-beta pruning, implemented in Assembly optimized for Z80 registers allocation, using heuristic evaluation and arbitrary recursion depth, multi-tasked in background.

It's currently used in COMPLICA DX, Hex and Hex 2. You can get the source code from any of them.

[Alone Coder]

I wrote the author on YouTube (where he had only 2 subscribers), but he didn't respond.
It seems the world record holding program is lost forever. It was not archived anywhere.

[arkannoyed]

We corresponded before Covid was a thing regarding its development as I was still further developing 3D Chess.
I’ll see if I can find an email for him.

[hitm4n]

as I WAS still further developing 3D Chess

Does this mean you aren't any more?

[arkannoyed]

Well, on and off. I have a simple gui and move legality checking plus sone other logic implemented. There is currently no method of playing a computer opponent though. Still all under 800 bytes I think.

[hitm4n]

Well i know very little about the programming aspects, but it was very interesting to follow. Hope you do more.

[arkannoyed]

The core display code did get down to 495 bytes. I should upload the updated source sometime

[Dr beep]

I love stuff like this, when I was a teenager I applied for a job programming Gameboy colour/advance games and was asked to make a bomber man game in under 500 bytes. I managed it and still didn't get the job because I didn't include the Nintendo logo, so the game didn't run on real hardware - but including it added something like 200 bytes...

Still I love these challenges and ways of thinking outside the box with code.

There is a 256 bytes game challenge in februari at demozoo
https://demozoo.org/parties/4760/

Entered last year with a 249 bytes formula 1 pitsstop game but a simple c64 game won.