Sargon III
                 by Dan and Kathe Spracklen
                 
Reviewed by T.A. Marsland

The slayer of a $5 million maxi has returned in new clothes,
and  is now available for use with the "greatest thing since
tinned milk", the Apple McIntosh. Priced at about  $50  this
version  of  Sargon  uses  a 4MHz.  Motorola 68000 processor
with 128 Kbytes of memory. It makes effective use  of  McIn-
tosh  features  such  as  the  mouse to enter moves, and the
display windows to show the board, the moves  made  and  the
moves  being considered.  The program is excellent for speed
chess, especially if "ponder" mode  is  used,  although  the
feel  is  more of a pocket chess game.  All the common modes
of play from 5 secs. to 6 mins per move are provided,  along
with  the customary features like, great games and problems,
and an opening book.

     The primary advantage over self contained units is that
with  Sargon  III  you  can view the search window while the
machine thinks. Use of this option may lower the quality  of
play  slightly,  but most people should find it interesting.
While many things have been done well, retracting  moves  is
still clumsy. Also, saving the current game for continuation
at a later time seemed awkward. The restart of an  old  game
is unusual, too, since one has to replay (in automatic mode)
the previous moves.

     Overall   I   was   impressed   not   only   with   the
hardware/software  of  the  product,  but also with the per-
ceived strength of the program  and  the  way  in  which  it
retained the interest  of  its opponents.  The only  thing I 
missed was a clock display to remind users to "keep moving".

                      January 9, 1985