[3] Eight different difficulty levels have the computer-player take a variable amount of time to determine its moves, ranging from a few seconds to ten hours.

[5] At first, the console's strict hardware limitations seemed to preclude it hosting a chess program.

The console's Television Interface Adaptor chip can only display three sprites in each scanline, or six (such as in Space Invaders) with the right programming.

Whitehead developed a technique he called Venetian blinds, in which a sprite's horizontal position is alternated between two values at every scanline, while the hardware outputs video signal.

The reviewers were surprised that the gameplay was limited to a single player, and noted the high retail price of US$40 (equivalent to $170 in 2023), but they praised the programming which prevents illegal moves, and which includes more advanced chess concepts like castling and en passant capturing which had not yet become standard in all chess video games.