While looking at a few old chess programs for some ideas about my current programming lull, I stumbled across a rather useful old DOS program: Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. Of course, I knew it originally was a book, but I did not know that it was later turned into a chess program.

The interface is a bit clunky, running in DosBox. Of note, the taller pieces, like queens or kings, often obscure smaller pieces like pawns, due to the board orientation. You might also have noticed that the first pic is our infamous Fool’s Mate! (I just couldn’t help but include it here!)

I went through the first chapter, 1 of 6. If you want to try it out, be prepared for long chapters! It appears to save bookmarks, so I suppose that you could come back to it later.

One thought that this gave me was that of using the JustChessEngine or JustChess interface for instructional purposes…. Perhaps some sort of “find the mate”, or “defend from mate”. Not sure, but it is an idea. I’ll have to think on it.

Linux – keep it simple.

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