Checkmate For The Gameboy Color

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Introduction

Checkmate is a game for the Gameboy Color, released by Altron Corp in 1999. It has two game mode which are essentially single game and tournament mode.

While most of the game is in silence, the Start Menu has quite a pleasant tune. Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjdQE6D0paI

Tournament Mode

You play the opponents in order of increasing difficulty. I played a couple of members of the tournament.

Opponent 1: Yayoi Mido

Was pretty easy

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 e6 3. e3 Qd6 4. Nf3 Qd8 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. a3 Bd7 7. Ne5 Kf8 8. Qh5 Nf6 9. Qxf7#

Opponent 2: Larry Brown

Played some confusingly out-of-step moves, but still easy

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Qd7 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. c3 Bf8 6. Ne5 Qd8 7. Qh5 Qf6 8. Bg5 Qf5 9. g4 Qf6 10. Bxf6 Nxf6 11. Qxf7+ Kd8 12. Bb5 Rg8 13. c4 Bb4+ 14. Nc3 Bd7 15. Bxd7 Nbxd7 16. Nxd7 Bxc3+ 17. bxc3 dxc4 18. Nxf6 Rh8 19. Qd7#

Opponent 3: Yuan Chan

Gave a little bit more of a fight, but seemingly gave up and let me checkmate them slowly and easily

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 d5 3. e3 e6 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. Ne5 O-O 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. O-O Bxe5 8. dxe5 Ne4 9. Nc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Nc5 11. Qg4 Ne4 12. f3 Nxc3 13. Bxh7+ Kxh7 14. Qh5+ Kg8 15. Qg4 Bd7 16. Bh6 Ne2+ 17. Kh1 g6 18. Rfe1 Nc3 19. Bf4 Bc6 20. Bg5 Qd7 21. Qh4 Ba4 22. Bf6 Bxc2 23. Qh8#

Vs. Stockfish

At this point we all want to see how this thing handles modern day Stockfish.

I picked the Super Computer, of course.

http://letseatlabs-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/blog/chess/checkmategbc/super-computer.png

The duel begins:

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 4.....

.....

It appears to be thinking for a long time. I actually sped up the clock speed of the emulator yet no dice -- this particular position causes too deep of thought for this "super computer" to play with us in any fashionable amounts of time.

What if we played the second most difficult? Maybe the CPU just needs to play a little bit looser to find some moves for us.

http://letseatlabs-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/blog/chess/checkmategbc/antonio-perez.png

The game still thought for a long time, but not long enough to deter me. I sped up the clock speed and grunted this one out.

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. e3 b5 5. a4 Bd7 6. axb5 Bxb5 7. Nc3 Bc6 8. Ne5 e6 9. Bxc4 Bxg2 10. Rg1 Bc6 11. Nxc6 Nxc6 12. Bb5 Qd6 13. Qf3 Nd5 14. Ra6 O-O-O 15. Bxc6 Kb8 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. Bd2 Qxh2 18. Rh1 Qd6 19. Qe2 Kc8 20. Qb5 Rd7 21. Qb7+ Kd8 22. Qb8+ Ke7 23. Bb4 Kf6 24. Bxd7 h6 25. Bxd6 Bxd6 26. Qxh8 Kg6 27. Rg1+ Kh5 28. Qxg7 Bb4+ 29. Kf1 f6 30. Rh1#

Stockfish smashed Antonio. Let us review!

Game Analysis

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4

Stockfish loves to play this if possible. This is where thinking for Antonio takes the longest. After a few minutes of waiting at 3000x CPU speed...

2... Nf6 3. c4 dxc4

Black responds by developing their knight. White presents a gambit and Black accepts.

4. e3 b5 5. a4 Bd7 6. axb5 Bxb5 7. Nc3 Bc6 8. Ne5 e6 9. Bxc4 Bxg2 10. Rg1 Bc6 11. Nxc6 Nxc6 12. Bb5 Qd6 13. Qf3 Nd5 14. Ra6

White casually claims control of the center and then Black allows White to casually load a cannon.

14... O-O-O 15. Bxc6 Kb8 16. Nxd5 exd5 17. Bd2 Qxh2 18. Rh1 Qd6 19. Qe2 Kc8 20. Qb5 Rd7 21. Qb7+ Kd8 22. Qb8+ Ke7 23. Bb4 Kf6 24. Bxd7 h6 25. Bxd6

Black blunders their queen due to inactivity. They did not take the rook when they could have. The rest of the game is Stockfish having fun.

25... Bxd6 26. Qxh8 Kg6 27. Rg1+ Kh5 28. Qxg7 Bb4+ 29. Kf1 f6 30. Rh1#

Sources

[1] https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gbc/196905-checkmate/faqs/49203