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In order to test this program fully, I set it up in opposition to Mikro-Gen's Masterchess II on the Spectrum.

Superchess allows you to set up the board to your own requirements, and plays on several levels, each with a different response time varying from pretty instant to 14 hours! The screen display is very acceptable, with the board viewed from above. InterestingIy, when left to its own devices, each program produced the same opening moves on level I, though it was on level 3 that I decided to play them against each other. It started out being fun typing their respective moves into each computer...

Masterchess took about 30 seconds to produce its moves, whilst Superchess produced a move after about three minutes' thinking time, and that IS the way it continued. After three hours, 1 was bored to death. Masterchess on the Spectrum is as just as quick, and Superchess was still grinding away. At bedtime, there was no sign of a winner, so 1 switched off! But one thing was interesting; at one stage Masterchess declared that Superchess had made an illegal move, and it appeared to be right - either that, or it had set its board out incorrectly.

All the usual features are here; recommended moves, self-play, analysis mode and insights as to how the program works. A handy feature for green screen owners is the facility to change screen colours. Acceptable, but rather slow if you want a real challenge.

D.M.