Vonset???

[fourthirty]

Hi Greg

thats a very solid choice
actually its one of my favorite smaller chess computers

During Christmas 2017 Millennium raffled off a limited edition piece set to 50 registered owners which could be used with the Chess Genius
the pieces are a bit thicker and have felt bottoms covering the magnets



https://www.flickr.com/photos/10261668@ ... ateposted/

No. 7/50 Regards
Steve

Thanks Steve. Just slightly jealous of the upgraded pieces!

(I've looked on eBay, and have never seen the upgraded set for sale)

Raffle regards,
Greg

[Murat]

If I am not mistaking these are the pieces which came with the limited edition.

Do they look the same Steve?

https://www.niggemann.com/en/chess-piec ... enius.html

[Steve B]

Hi Murat
its hard to tell from the link but the pieces shown look like the normal pieces while the pieces from the limited edition have a more rubbery look and feel to them


Rubber Soul Regards
Steve

[Murat]

Oh I see. I was thinking about the solid white colour.

Thank you Steve.

[Priest321]

I'm writing to share my experience with the Vonset L6 Core I acquired a week ago. I've owned several models from brands such as Millennium, but this particular device stands out as the best one yet.

One of the striking features of this machine is its portability. It doesn't require users to physically push down on the squares to move pieces, offering a great deal of convenience. It boasts 22 levels of difficulty - higher than the usually stated 20. Having tested the machine on the highest level against the chess goru app setup (ELO 2350), the game impressively resulted in a draw.

A feature I appreciate is the color indication per square, signifying the quality of a move. However, I've observed that it only displays blue for a move when a piece can be captured without any immediate threat. I suggest enhancing this feature to reflect the strategic strength of moves, akin to the system used by the Chess-Up board.

Despite its high difficulty level, this machine's processing speed is remarkable. Even at level 22, it calculates a move in less than a second. I'm intrigued by the technology behind this feature.

The machine also includes a handy review feature, allowing users to review the last three games played. This is a wonderful tool for learning and improvement.

However, I do have some reservations about the design of the pieces. I've found it somewhat difficult to distinguish between certain pieces due to their similar appearance. A redesign or better distinguishing features would make for a more seamless gaming experience.

I have a couple of queries as well. I wonder if it's possible to do firmware updates and how we might implement them if updates are made. Additionally, is there a planned feature where the board would show the best moves calculated by the chess engine when you lift up the pieces? Such a feature would further elevate the gaming experience.

To sum up, despite some room for improvement, this chess machine has been a fantastic purchase and I would highly recommend it to fellow chess enthusiasts. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts or similar experiences with this machine.

Cheers!

[samson]

Dear friend,

I am Samson. Thanks for your comment to us. We are improve our pieces next time. We plan to develop an app, connect our own chessboard, use it for upgrades, play chess online and other functions. At present, the hardware of L6 supports networking. Thanks again.

[programmierbär]

Hi Samson,

do you plan to provied an API for other software/apps to communicate with your board?
I am the developer of BearChess and always looking to integrate more boards.
Currently the most common boards are supported, like Certabo, DGT, Millennium, SquareOff, iChessOne (next release) etc.

Lars

[samson]

Hi my friend,

Thanks for your suggestion. I want to know more about your app. Maybe we can communicate this topic with email. My email address is liaojunqu@vonsetchess.com. Thanks again.

Kindly Regards
Samson From Vonset Chess

[programmierbär]

Hi Samson,

I send you an email from my account lars@solanosoft.com

Regards
Lars

[Tibono2]

I'm writing to share my experience with the Vonset L6 Core I acquired a week ago.
...
Despite its high difficulty level, this machine's processing speed is remarkable. Even at level 22, it calculates a move in less than a second. I'm intrigued by the technology behind this feature.
...
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts or similar experiences with this machine.

Cheers!

Hi,
I can announce I am currently in the process of testing the same L6, new version offering 22 levels - I shall name it L6-v2 for convenience. I plan to run similar tests as I previously did in this thread with the v1.

Yes, calculations are blazing fast with the L6-v2, even using the highest level as you wrote. I got some kind information from our friend Samson: the hardware has been upgraded to ARM cortex-A7 x2 @1Ghz. Wikipedia reports a core performance of 1.9 DMIPS / MHz.

The software as well has been uplifted compared to the L6-v1. And yes, 2350 Elo is not unrealistic an estimate. Vonset claim is over 2300, maybe 2350.
I ran a first gauntlet, 8 games against 2320 average opponents set at 15s/move, the L6-v2 achieved 68.8% which is a 2457 CElo performance (Computer Elo). This is around 2350 Fide Elo. Of course I need to run significantly more games before providing a more accurate estimate. And facing opponents that can use more thinking time (such as active chess 30s/move or tournament pace 2h/40 moves), the Elo performance would be reduced. Nevertheless this provides an impressive order of magnitude for instant play strength!

As I did with the L6-v1, I first performed a test facing the Lexibook Chesslight beginner levels (A1 to A5). The Vonset plays white, starting with L6 level 1 against Chesslight level A1; then I raise the L6 level by 1 on each next game, until it scores either a win or a draw. At such a stage, I also raise the Chesslight level by 1 step. Here is the L6-v2 result (under brackets, the L6-v1):

Code: Select all

lv5 wins A1  (lv6 draws A1)
lv8 draws A2 (lv10 draws A2)
lv10 wins A3 (lv13 wins A3)
lv11 wins A4 (lv14 wins A4)
lv12 wins A5 (lv14 wins A5)

One can easily read the L6-v2 required less levels increase to get on par or win; and watching the games I could note the L6-v1 former reluctance for achieving wins, while running on low levels (even with totally won positions), is no more true with the L6-v2. That's a lot better! And the strength is still very smoothly increased from one level to the other, the scaling looks fine to me. Well done for children or for any beginner!

I plan to get back to you in few days (up to a couple of weeks) with a Khmelnitsky test report!
Kind regards,
Tibono

[Murat]

On their web site there is no mention of upgraded hardware. I see no hardware specs.
How can we tell which version we are ordering?

[samson]

On their web site there is no mention of upgraded hardware. I see no hardware specs.
How can we tell which version we are ordering?

Dear Murat,

Now the old L6 is no longer in production. So if you buy our L6 chess computer, it is the new version L6. Thanks a lot.

[Priest321]

Hi

Looking forward to seeing the results of the testing.

Is this version of the L6 considered to be the pro version?

Will the app work with this version? When will it be released?

Is the L7 still coming out? Of so, when?

Regards,

Keith

[Tibono2]

On their web site there is no mention of upgraded hardware. I see no hardware specs.
How can we tell which version we are ordering?

Dear Murat,

Now the old L6 is no longer in production. So if you buy our L6 chess computer, it is the new version L6. Thanks a lot.

Hardware specs are mentioned on this page (just look for 'Technical Data' around the middle of the web page).
Best,
Tibono

[Tibono2]

Looking forward to seeing the results of the testing.
Keith

Hi Keith, hi all
here you are with the Khmelnitsky test outcome!

I had to cancel the first run of the test after reaching 85% done: I already had a growing concern with the temporary results that looked way below my expectation (with regards to the high playing strength), and finally got evidences the displayed score is often not self-sufficient to assess a position. It looks to only "scratch the surface". Nevertheless, once few moves are actually played starting from a given position, the score converges towards relevant values, and gives a balanced evaluation of the initial position.
As the Khmelnitsky test leverages not only best move identification, but also questions the side having an edge or maybe winning, I had to find a workaround.
The key point is the blazing fast response time of the L6-v2. I now have played many games, I could only notice a couple of them with L6-v2 at level 22 (max) using one or two seconds for the whole game, according to the time display! Other games did not report a single whole second spent.
Other chess computers running the Khmelnitsky test are granted three minutes thinking time per position - therefore I considered fair enough to have the L6-v2 carry on several moves in a row (using in turn the hint feature then the usual computer move) in order to reveal sort of the principal variation and take note of the displayed scores. Usually 4 to 5 moves are enough to get a stabilized score (best is to reach a "quiescence position"). This process only costs around half a minute operator time, and the computing time used by the L6-v2 remains barely noticeable.

OK, the L6-v2 is not an analysis tool (as already stated about the L6-v1), anyway let's focus on the results now:
It achieved 1954 KT-Elo, which is close to the score achieved by the Fidelity 2265 Designer Mach III (1974).
According to the calibration graph I previously shared (p.4 within this thread), this reveals a potential strength above 2100 "computer Elo".

Here is the graph:

link (if not displayed above)

Comparison to the L6-v1:

link

Comparison to the Designer MIII:

link

Comparison to an average 1954 Elo human player:

link

It is a strong counterattacker, manages the opening fairly well, and rather unusually has good skills for strategy, even better than the average player has. Not a great attacher though, and a bit weak in tactics and sacrifice. The low spot in tactics of course relates to the extremely short thinking time used.

I am still running tournaments in order to evaluate the computer Elo thru real games, so far the L6-v2 appears to deserve the rough estimate over 2300/2350 mark. Maybe even more. New blitz monster?

Tibono