Video Chess
Platform: Atari 2600
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: Joystick
Genre: Board Game - Chess
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1978
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari
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As one of man's oldest war games, chess is believed to have originated in India between 350 to 400 AD.  The first written record of the game was in 700 AD.  There are many variations of chess played throughout the world.

~From the Manual

Atari never intended to create a Chess game for the Atari 2600 when the system was first introduced. But the original VCS box had a chess piece on it, and Atari was ultimately sued by someone in Florida due to the lack of an actual chess game on the system. Some time later Atari's engineers began working on a version of Chess for the 2600. 

Although Video Chess ended up shipping as a 4K game, earlier versions of the game were larger in size. This prompted Atari to invent bank-switching ROMs which would be used in later titles that needed more than 4K of address space.

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=581
