Netchess

NetChess is an early networked chess game for the Classic Mac, preserved by Macintosh Garden as a board game for 68k Macintoshes running System 6.x through System 7.x. It ships as a small package containing both the game application and a System extension (init), with network play between two Macs as its central feature.

Gameplay

The curator note describes NetChess as an old chess program designed to be played over a network rather than against a built-in engine. Two players on connected Macs can sit down at the board and trade moves across the wire, with the local application handling rendering of pieces and moves on each side.

System requirements

NetChess targets 68k Macintosh hardware and is listed as compatible with System 6.x through System 7.0 to 7.6. The release includes an init file that must be placed in the System Folder so the network transport is available before the application is launched.

Distribution

The Macintosh Garden copy is preserved as a DiskCopy 6.5 image compressed with StuffIt 5, weighing in at roughly 46 KB, with an MD5 checksum recorded for verification. Author and exact release year are not stated on the curator page.