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Battle Chess by Interplay is one of the most iconic chess programs ever released! As a boy, I was completely blown away by the animations of the chess pieces slaying each other on screen and I suspect that some of the visual imagery that I have in my mind in games of chess may have been influenced by my experiences when young.

I was never able to defeat Battle Chess as a kid, but I must admit that I don’t think I was trying very hard either – I was mostly just playing for the animations!

There was an “enhanced” version of Battle Chess released on CD-ROM that included better graphics and animations, and much better audio. However, there is a charm and nostalgia to the original version, which could fit on a single double-sided 3.5″ floppy disk! The DOS version of the game can still be bought from the Good Old Games store, which comes packaged with an installer with Dosbox such that it’ll work without much fuss on modern operating systems. I bought it here from: https://www.gog.com/en/game/battle_chess

In my game against Battle Chess, we went down the Vienna Game Main Line. The pseudo-3D isometric view made it quite hard to play, especially when a lot of pieces were still on the board. However, the hilarious animations make up for it, at least, for a single game. If you want a trip down nostalgia, or, explore the retro world of 1980s computer gaming, it’s well worth the price.

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/analysis/library/252SGYAWd4?tab=analysis

[Event "Battle Chess vs chess noob"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2022.12.04"]
[Round "1"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "Battle Chess (DOS)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1350"]
[BlackUrl "https://adventuresofachessnoob.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/battlechessicon.png"]
[BlackCountry "2"]
[BlackTitle ""]
[BlackElo "1000"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.c39cd81f.78x78o.51665d3176c1@2x.jpeg"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 {Vienna Game: Main Line} 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Qf3
{Paulsen Attack [-0.24]} 5... f5 {Bardeleben Variation} 6. d4 {Heyde Variation}
6... Nc6 $6 {[%c_effect c6;square;c6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] A relative
inaccuracy [+0.23]} 7. Be3 $6 {[%c_effect
e3;square;e3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] And I make an inaccuracy back
[-0.93]} 7... Nb4 $2 {[%c_effect b4;square;b4;type;Mistake;persistent;true]
Stockfish calls this a mistake [+1.00]} 8. O-O-O Be7 9. a3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Nc6 11.
Bb5 $6 {[%c_effect b5;square;b5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] An inaccuracy
[+0.37]} 11... Bxa3+ 12. Kb1 $2 {[%c_effect
b1;square;b1;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake [-0.68]. It would have been
better to move the king into the defensive structure of pawns.} 12... O-O 13.
Nh3 Qd7 $4 {[%c_effect d7;square;d7;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A blunder
[+2.50]} 14. Ng5 $4 {[%c_effect g5;square;g5;type;Blunder;persistent;true] Also a
blunder [-1.88]} 14... Re8 $4 {[%c_effect
e8;square;e8;type;Blunder;persistent;true] And another blunder [+3.01]} 15. Qh5 $2
{[%c_effect h5;square;h5;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mate threat, but
Stockfish considers this a mistake and suboptimal although White is still ahead
[+0.49]} 15... h6 $6 {[%c_effect h6;square;h6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true]}
16. e6 Qd8 $4 {[%c_effect d8;square;d8;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A serious
blunder [+11.6]} 17. Qf7+ $1 {[%c_effect
f7;square;f7;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 17... Kh8 18. Rdf1 $4 {[%c_effect
f1;square;f1;type;Blunder;persistent;true] This was a blunder [+3.48] as I give
up a lot of my advantage} ({This is the best line which I did not see...} 18.
Qxf5 hxg5 19. Bd3 g6 20. Qxg6 {... completely winning position - mate or near
forced mate}) 18... hxg5 $4 {[%c_effect
g5;square;g5;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A blunder where forced mate is
possible} 19. Bxg5 Bxe6 $6 {[%c_effect
e6;square;e6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true]} 20. Qh5+ $1 {[%c_effect
h5;square;h5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 20... Kg8 21. Bxd8 Raxd8 22. Bd3
Ne7 23. g4 fxg4 $4 {[%c_effect g4;square;g4;type;Blunder;persistent;true] The
final terminal blunder...} 24. Qh7# {[%c_effect
b1;square;b1;type;Winner,g8;square;g8;type;CheckmateBlack]} 1-0