Sargon III

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Sargon III is a computer chess program released in 1983 as the sequel to Sargon II. It was created by Dan Spracklen and Kathe Spracklen and published by Hayden Software. The game runs on Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and Mac.

Sargon III uses a time budget based on nine levels of play, each with a hard or easy setting. On the lowest level it typically takes about five seconds per move; on the highest level it can think for an unlimited amount of time. Players can undo moves, ask for help, or force the computer to move. The program features a 2-D chess display, and it includes a chess opening repertoire plus a collection of 107 famous games for study.

This version was a complete rewrite from scratch. Instead of an exchange evaluator, it uses a capture search algorithm. It also introduced a chess opening repertoire. Originally written for the 6502 assembler, Hayden published the 1983 version, and Apple later ported it to 68000 assembly for the Macintosh, making Sargon III one of the first third‑party executable Mac programs.

Sargon III was well received and appeared on best-seller lists in 1985. PC Magazine gave it 13.5 out of 18, praising its speed and skill while noting the pieces looked abstract. Other magazines highlighted its speed, depth, and tutoring potential, though some reviewers felt the price was high for casual players.