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There is now a series of chess programs for the ZX81 on the market, some, which are cheaper, aimed at the less serious players, and the others, like ZX Chess II (selling for £9.95) are aimed at already competent players who wish to improve their game. The package comes complete with seven playing abilities and many other options.

The instructions on the reverse side of the cover give a reasonable account of how to use the program.

Upon loading, you are asked the question 'Play, Analyse or Load'. If your answer is L for load, the machine will load a previously saved game Both in loading and saving a very efficient process takes over - no program names are needed - and the actual saving takes about two seconds. The 'Analysis' mode gives you the opportunity to solve a magazine chess puzzle, or to continue with a game of correspondence chess.

When the play begins, the program has a number of sets of opening moves which contribute to making the game more random - a good thing. The board is set out so the black pieces spread across the top of the screen and the white at the bottom. The squares are indicated by using the standard chess notation system. You are given a choice as to whether yu want to be black or white but I felt myself unable to play black, simply because I felt as it I were playing upside down (the pawns moved down the screen instead of going up). The computer allows every move, including en passant. When a faulty command is entered, the program recognises the mistake and prints 'INVALID' - a sign for you to try again. Pawns are automatically turned into Queens when they reach the opposite site of the board.

The game nearly always ends in a check-mate.

The combined efforts of my family have not yet been able to defeat level 3 without having to have help from the computer, obtained by pressing the 'M' for 'move' (or, as I like to call it, 'mother' key). I have a negative attitude to this facility, because when things get rough it tempts the innocent player into cheating. Some would argue that it helps to learn the game.

This program may be considered worthwhile to the serious chess-player, but is not worth the extra expertise for a beginner, or a player who will only ue the program for the occasional game, as this program contains sophisticated programming, rather than user 'friendliness'.

The seven levels give a good wide variety of play, and are explained below.

1. Level 0
   replies in two seconds and is the easiest level
2. Level 1
   replies in 15 seconds and plays reasonably
3. Level 2
   replies in 40 seconds and is suitable for casual players
4. Level 3
   replies in 3 minutes and plays an above average game
5. Level 4
   replies in 5 minutes, playing a game difficult to beat
6. Level 5 and 6
   takes longer, play very strongly, and are most suitable for correspondence games

ZX Chess II costs £9.95 for the 16K ZX81, and is available from Artic Computing Ltd., 396 James Reckitt Avenue, Hull, N. Humberside HU8 0JA.