“Commodore 64/128 Sargon III” Logo taken from Box (front).

“Hayden Software & written by Dan and Kathe Spracklen” logo taken from Box cover.

Introducing SARGON III -- The world’s finest microcomputer chess program. Internationally recognized as the ultimate chess software for players of all skills and interests.

“SARGON III Chessboard Picture taken from Box (back)

FROM NOVICE TO MASTER, SARGON III PLAYS YOUR GAME

• Choose from 9 different levels of play, from beginner to master.
• Select Easy Mode to handicap SARGON’S play within levels.
• Plays a strong game, and plays fast.
• Has an opening library of over 68,000 moves.
• Contains the most sophisticated algorithm in chess software. . . SARGON III has beaten a chess master rated over 2200.
• Winner of the PC World Magazine microcomputer chess tournament.

THE ULTIMATE PROGRAM FOR LEARNING CHESS

SARGON III has the most complete, easy-to-understand documentation. It includes a section on the fundamentals of chess by the U.S. Chess Federation.

And with SARGON III you can. . .

• Take back moves.
• Set up your own board for customized learning.
• Change sides with SARGON III
• Replay a game.
• Ask SARGON III to suggest a move for you.
• Review and analyze any of the 107 great games of history provided on disk.
• Sharpen your tactical skills by calling up and studying one of 45 classic chess problems.

Excerpts taken from “Commodore 64 Sargon III” Box (back).

Wooden Chess Knight & Bishop picture taken from the front of “SARGON III” Box (front)

LEVEL SELECT

SARGON III has nine-different levels of play. The levels increase in difficulty and in the amount of time taken per move. Levels may be selected or changed at any time during the game, as long as it is your turn to move.

The levels and their average response time are shown in the following chart:

• Level 1 -  5 seconds per move - 60 moves/5 minutes
• Level 2 - 15 seconds per move - 60 moves/15 minutes
• Level 3 - 30 seconds per move - 60 moves/30 minutes
• Level 4 - 1 minute per move - 60 moves/1 hour
• Level 5 - 2 minutes per move - 30 moves/55 minutes
• Level 6 - 3 minutes per move - 40 moves/1 hr 50 min
• Level 7 - 6 minutes per move - 30 moves/3 hours
• Level 8 - 10 minutes per move - 40 moves/6 hrs 40 min
• Level 9 - Infinite Level - No limit

SARGON maintains a time “budget”. For each level, there are a certain number of moves which must be made within a fixed time frame. If SARGON goes over the average time on any particular move, that time is subtracted from its budget and the remaining moves will be played more quickly. If SARGON gains time by playing moves from its opening library or thinking on your time, the time saved up is distributed over the remaining moves. SARGON can take a little longer on these moves.

THE OPENING LIBRARY

The opening library is a collection of Grand Master moves, beginning from the starting position of a game of chess and proceeding along variations that have been deeply analyzed.

The SARGON III chess program has an opening library of over 68,000 different positions distributed over 52 files on the main program side of the disk. This is by far the largest collection of opening moves ever supplied with a commercial chess program, and it samples the entire range of opening possibilities.

The opening library functions automatically, as long as the chess disk is in the boot drive of your system. The program looks for information on this disk at several points during the game, so it is imperative that you keep the main program disk in place throughout the game (unless you are saving a game to a disk or loading a game from disk).

Excerpts taken from “Commodore 64 Sargon III” User Manual