Chess programs, 8080 emulator, and retrogaming

Most-linked posts?

1. JavaScript Chess Game in 2.1kb
   4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-11-07
2. Nanochess
   4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-12-25
3. /chess6.html
   3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-06-08
4. IntyBASIC: A Basic Compiler for Intellivision
   3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-05-27
5. /chess.html
   3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-01-18
6. A chess program in 481 bytes of x86 machine code
   3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2015-02-03
7. /chess.html
   2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-08-04
8. /chess4.html
   2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-03-07
9. /author.html
   2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-03-19
10. I coded a Pascal compiler for transputer as a teen in 1993
    2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-02-05

What Hacker News says?

1. ArchieMaclean · 2021-03-08

   See also nanochess https://nanochess.org/chess4.html

   Comment linking /chess4.html

   on “The Kilobyte’s Gambit”
2. nanochess · 2025-03-13

   Submitted My teen years: The transputer operating system as a story · 257 points

   HN discussion
3. cortesoft · 2021-03-08

   You can see the Math.random call in the source code: https://nanochess.org/chess4.html#sour

   Comment linking /chess4.html

   on “The Kilobyte’s Gambit”
4. hggh · 2024-03-19

   Submitted Intel 8080 emulator. 19th IOCCC. Best of Show as a story · 256 points

   HN discussion
5. mattround · 2021-03-07

   Original engine's here (only looks ahead 3 steps instead of 4) https://nanochess.org/archive/tiny_chess_2.html

   Comment linking /archive/tiny_chess_2.html

   on “The Kilobyte’s Gambit”
6. nanochess · 2025-02-05

   Submitted I coded a Pascal compiler for transputer as a teen in 1993 as a story · 180 points

   HN discussion
7. mattround · 2021-03-07

   This is the same engine but doesn't look quite as far ahead https://nanochess.org/archive/tiny_chess_2.html

   Comment linking /archive/tiny_chess_2.html

   on “The Kilobyte’s Gambit”
8. elvis70 · 2021-06-12

   Submitted My first Z80 assembly language program as a story · 116 points

   HN discussion
9. Someone · 2021-03-07

   I think https://nanochess.org/archive/tiny_chess_1.html is that, possibly for an older/newer version of the engine (found via https://nanochess.org/chess4.html#sour , which SatvikBeri mentioned in a different message) Still looks a bit weird on my iPad (huge black pawns), but easier to beat because it’s easier to see the board.

   Comment linking /chess4.html

   on “The Kilobyte’s Gambit”
10. nanochess · 2025-10-12

    Submitted Completing a BASIC language interpreter in 2025 as a story · 101 points

    HN discussion
11. SatvikBeri · 2021-03-07

    The javascript engine: https://nanochess.org/chess4.html#sour The slightly older C version: https://nanochess.org/chess1.html The author wrote a book commenting and explaining the C version, it's 170 pages long! https://nanochess.org/chess3.html#book Edit: MicroMax is a close competitor that also has very good explanations on their website https://home.hccnet.nl/h.g.muller/max-src2.html .

    Comment linking /chess3.html

    on “The Kilobyte’s Gambit”
12. nanochess · 2025-09-28

    Submitted Coding a new BASIC interpreter in 2025 to replace a slow one as a story · 87 points

    HN discussion
13. burkaman · 2021-03-07

    https://nanochess.org/ https://www.lulu.com/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/toledo-nano...

    Comment linking /

    on “The Kilobyte’s Gambit”
14. nanochess · 2024-03-12

    Submitted LOCS: Language developed at age 9 in Z80 machine code (1988) as a story · 81 points

    HN discussion
15. thom · 2021-03-07

    If anyone’s interested in the guts of this, you can get Oscar Toledo’s annotated source of the C version of Nanochess at: https://nanochess.org/chess3.html

    Comment linking /chess3.html

    on “The Kilobyte’s Gambit”
16. nanochess · 2025-07-03

    Submitted Development of a transputer ISA board as a story · 78 points

    HN discussion
17. chengsun · 2014-08-04

    Óscar Toledo G. has notably written various tiny, strong and highly obfuscated chess engines in C (winning the IOCCC twice) and JavaScript (2nd place in the first JS1k). He's even written a 170 page book to serve as a reference to the 1326-byte "Nanochess" program, his strongest small chess engine. http://www.nanochess.org/chess.html

    Comment linking /chess.html

    on “Sunfish: A simple but strong chess engine in 111 lines of Python”
18. nanochess · 2026-09-22

    Submitted Making portable my unportable transputer C compiler as a story · 74 points

    HN discussion
19. dogman1050 · 2026-09-10

    I can't beat the famous 1k JavaScript version either. I was better when I was younger. https://nanochess.org/archive/toledo_javascript_chess_3.html

    Comment linking /archive/toledo_javascript_chess_3.html

    on “Stockfish 19”
20. nanochess · 2024-02-07

    Submitted Viboritas: Reverse engineering of my 1990 game (I was 11 years old) as a story · 73 points

    HN discussion
21. philomath_mn · 2024-03-20

    Good catch -- those same books show up on the nanochess site: https://nanochess.org/author.html Odd that he doesn't mention the "scientist" people may be looking for is his father, but everything else lines up.

    Comment linking /author.html

    on “Intel 8080 emulator. 19th IOCCC. Best of Show”
22. nanochess · 2026-10-07

    Submitted La Cueva BBS in Mexico in 1993 (session replay) as a story · 72 points

    HN discussion
23. philomath_mn · 2024-03-19

    Wow, that sent me down a rabbit hole -- but this line from the homepage makes it sound like he is _not_ part of that family? > If you're looking for information about the Mexican scientist Oscar Toledo Esteva, then please go to the History page of the Familia Toledo organization site. https://nanochess.org/index.html

    Comment linking /index.html

    on “Intel 8080 emulator. 19th IOCCC. Best of Show”
24. AlexeyBrin · 2023-12-24

    Submitted My first Z80 assembly language program as a story · 57 points

    HN discussion
25. dloss · 2024-03-19

    Made by Oscar Toledo G., who learned assembly language by age 9 and won the International Obfuscated C Contest five times. https://nanochess.org/author.html

    Comment linking /author.html

    on “BootLogo: Logo language in 508 bytes of x86 machine code”
26. nanochess · 2025-04-04

    Submitted Show HN: Transputer emulator in JavaScript (fast enough to be useful) as a story · 55 points

    HN discussion
27. namuol · 2025-02-13

    I often wonder what sort of tools like this must have existed in-house at the many small game development studios of the era. This one reminds me of another modern compiler for the Intellivision console called INTYBasic, which has an extremely impressive suite of games and NES remakes implemented in it: https://nanochess.org/intybasic.html https://youtu.be/h7ttNz2UVw8 For something even higher level check out GBStud…

    Comment linking /intybasic.html

    on “NESFab – A new programming language for creating NES games”
28. nanochess · 2023-06-22

    Submitted Atari 2600 Video Chess disassembled and commented as a story · 35 points

    HN discussion
29. david-given · 2017-03-31

    It didn't understand castling, en passant and promotions. It would also only play white. I did once try to pit it against a modern engine. It seemed to do reasonably well until the modern engine sneakily castled, and I was unable to tell 1k Chess about this, thus forcing it to forfeit the game. Of course, since posting that, I since found this: http://nanochess.org/chess6.html Chess for the PC; 392 bytes. You put it…

    Comment linking /chess6.html

    on “A step-by-step guide to building a simple chess AI”
30. joemanaco · 2025-06-29

    Submitted IntyBASIC: A Basic Compiler for Intellivision as a story · 34 points

    HN discussion

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