ChatGPT vs. Atari 2600: AI Crumbles in a Retro Chess Showdown

In a surprising experiment blending cutting-edge AI with vintage gaming, American infrastructure architect Robert Caruso set out to test ChatGPT’s chess-playing abilities against Video Chess on the iconic Atari 2600 — a console first released in 1977. The match took place via the Stella emulator, and the outcome wasn’t pretty for the modern AI.

Caruso detailed his findings in a LinkedIn post, describing how ChatGPT failed spectacularly even on the game's easiest difficulty setting.

“ChatGPT suffered a complete defeat at the beginner difficulty level,” he noted.

Despite being given the initial board setup and clear instructions, ChatGPT quickly lost its footing. It mixed up chess pieces — mistaking a rook for a bishop, for example — missed obvious moves from its opponent, and routinely lost track of the board state.

Even switching to standard chess notation didn’t help. The AI, built by OpenAI, kept forgetting previous moves, committed glaring errors, and couldn’t maintain a coherent strategy throughout the match.

Retro Tech, Real Challenge

The Atari 2600 — powered by a modest 8-bit processor running at just 1.19 MHz and featuring a mere 128 bytes of RAM — is a cornerstone of gaming history. Video Chess was one of the console’s standout technical achievements, offering a surprisingly capable chess opponent within extreme hardware limitations. It was tough enough to give casual players a solid challenge and remains a retro gem.

Caruso admitted he expected a light-hearted, nostalgic experiment. Instead, he watched as ChatGPT struggled to follow even the basic rules of chess. The AI repeatedly asked to restart the game, promised to “learn from its mistakes,” and yet, after 90 minutes, failed to deliver a stable performance. The match was cut short — with Atari declared the clear winner.

Why Did ChatGPT Fail?

While ChatGPT excels at conversation, writing, and problem-solving, it lacks a dedicated chess engine like Stockfish. It understands the rules of chess in theory but struggles to reliably play long games — especially without a visual board or connection to a proper chess engine.

Though this experiment was more quirky than scientific, it highlights an important point: today's AI still has clear limitations when pushed beyond its core strength — generating language.

As Caruso put it with a wink:

“Played any Atari today? ChatGPT would rather you hadn’t.”