About Battle Chess
Battle Chess is a chess video game that Interplay Productions developed and published for the Amiga in 1988. Brian Fargo produced it, and Michael Quarles, Jayesh J. Patel and Troy P. Worrell designed it. Between 1988 and 1994 it appeared on a long list of other systems, among them MS-DOS, the Apple II and Apple IIGS, the Atari ST, the Commodore 64, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Macintosh, the 3DO, the Amiga CD32, FM Towns, PC-98, X68000 and Windows. Silicon & Synapse made the Commodore 64 version, Data East published the NES release, and Electronic Arts handled publishing in Europe.
In 1991 Interplay released Battle Chess Enhanced for IBM PC compatibles and the Macintosh, with improved VGA graphics and a symphonic score played from the CD-ROM. The game offers both single-player and multiplayer modes.
How it runs in your browser
The Play button opens Battle Chess on dos.zone in a separate tab. There, js-dos, the open-source DOSBox port that DOS.Zone compiles for browsers, recreates an IBM PC so the MS-DOS game can run. DOS.Zone hosts the files, so you skip the install, don’t need a copy of your own and don’t register. The site has no ads.
DOS.Zone tags the listing as a board, strategy and chess game, and 145 player reviews give it an average of 5. It doesn’t say whether this is the 1991 Enhanced edition. The page’s address carries a January 1989 date, which points to the earlier release, but treat that as a hint rather than a confirmed fact. Save support isn’t described either.
Multiplayer is part of the original game, but there’s no online play on this listing. The DOS.Zone page doesn’t say whether two people can take turns on one computer, so look in the game’s menus if you want a human opponent.
Controls and devices
You play with a keyboard and mouse. DOS.Zone doesn’t publish the controls for Battle Chess, so check the game’s own menus for how to select and move a piece, and click into the game window first so the emulator receives your input.
DOS.Zone’s description says virtual controls make Battle Chess playable on mobile. The game was built for a keyboard and mouse, and we haven’t tried it on a phone, so a computer is still the better fit.
Who it’s for
It is for chess players who want a quick game in a browser tab, and for anyone who remembers Battle Chess on the Amiga or a DOS PC and wants to see it again. Interplay turns up again as the North American publisher of Carmageddon in 1997, and Silicon & Synapse, the studio behind the Commodore 64 version, later developed The Lost Vikings, which Interplay published.
Is Battle Chess Free, Safe and Official?
Can I play Battle Chess online for free?
You can play it free in your browser on DOS.Zone, with no registration and nothing to install. There’s no online play on this listing, though, so you won’t be matched against other people over the internet.
Is this Battle Chess Enhanced?
DOS.Zone doesn’t say. Battle Chess Enhanced was a 1991 CD-ROM release for IBM PC compatibles and the Macintosh with improved VGA graphics. This listing is described only as the MS-DOS game, and its web address carries a January 1989 date.
Can I play Battle Chess on my phone?
DOS.Zone says virtual on-screen controls let you try it on a phone. The game was built for a keyboard and mouse, though, and we haven’t tested it on a phone, so a computer is the better fit.
