list of our chess computers , let's share it
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Hi all,
I just ran my eye through my own collection from over three years ago,
and thought I would give the group a rundown on what I've added since,
also arranged according to manufacturer:
Fidelity
'12'
'12B' Both these machines complete and excellent. A pleasure to
play against. Unique in that they have a metallic pressure sensory playing
surface.
Champion Sensory Chess Voice Challenger. I really neat machine. The
voice should have an on/off switch on the control panel to stop annoying
other people in the room, but I guess in those days they wanted to
advertise their product any way they could.
Openings module CB16. I got this one for the '9' level machine, which
came standard with an opening reportoire way too deep and not nearly
wide enough for it's rating group. However, it is supposed to fit the Elegance
and '12' and '12B' machines too. I wish Fidelity had made an endgame
module.
Excalibur
Igor
DeLuxe
Novag
Diamond
Star Diamond
Universal Chess Board
Mephisto
Atlanta
Montreux
Master
Saitek
Cosmos
Travel Champion 2100
RISC2500 V1.03 2mb
RISC2500 V1.04 128 kb
RISC2500 V1.04 2mb I know what you're thinking. Larry made
a pig of himself with these ones. You're right, I did. They are a neat machine
programmed by Johan de Koning. I'm not strong enough to be able to
tell the difference between versions.
Scisys
Turbo King
Stratos with endgame module.
Sensor Chess + module Super Classical
+ module Super Hyper Modern
I've got a small assortment of other small units barely worth a mention,
mostly cheapies I found locally.
When you're down here deep in the southern hemisphere, shipping costs
are a real factor to be considered. That's why I'm short on big wooden
boards.
nice day all....
Larry
I just ran my eye through my own collection from over three years ago,
and thought I would give the group a rundown on what I've added since,
also arranged according to manufacturer:
Fidelity
'12'
'12B' Both these machines complete and excellent. A pleasure to
play against. Unique in that they have a metallic pressure sensory playing
surface.
Champion Sensory Chess Voice Challenger. I really neat machine. The
voice should have an on/off switch on the control panel to stop annoying
other people in the room, but I guess in those days they wanted to
advertise their product any way they could.
Openings module CB16. I got this one for the '9' level machine, which
came standard with an opening reportoire way too deep and not nearly
wide enough for it's rating group. However, it is supposed to fit the Elegance
and '12' and '12B' machines too. I wish Fidelity had made an endgame
module.
Excalibur
Igor
DeLuxe
Novag
Diamond
Star Diamond
Universal Chess Board
Mephisto
Atlanta
Montreux
Master
Saitek
Cosmos
Travel Champion 2100
RISC2500 V1.03 2mb
RISC2500 V1.04 128 kb
RISC2500 V1.04 2mb I know what you're thinking. Larry made
a pig of himself with these ones. You're right, I did. They are a neat machine
programmed by Johan de Koning. I'm not strong enough to be able to
tell the difference between versions.
Scisys
Turbo King
Stratos with endgame module.
Sensor Chess + module Super Classical
+ module Super Hyper Modern
I've got a small assortment of other small units barely worth a mention,
mostly cheapies I found locally.
When you're down here deep in the southern hemisphere, shipping costs
are a real factor to be considered. That's why I'm short on big wooden
boards.
nice day all....
Larry
- Bryan Whitby
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1003
- Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:57 pm
- Location: England
- Bryan Whitby
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1003
- Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:57 pm
- Location: England
Hi Kostea
Yes I did have to jumper the Citrine. Eventually after various attempts at downloading the new software (Novag engineer actually emailed me wrong proceedure at first and I was left with a dead Citrine) I got a message saying that the download had been successful but my Citrine wouldn't switch on. I repeated the process again and still nothing. So my Citrine sat there for over a week totally dead. Then I thought about pressing the reset button and low and behold it sprang to life minus the opening book bugs.
Yes I am in contact with Solar Wide.
Regards
Bryan
Yes I did have to jumper the Citrine. Eventually after various attempts at downloading the new software (Novag engineer actually emailed me wrong proceedure at first and I was left with a dead Citrine) I got a message saying that the download had been successful but my Citrine wouldn't switch on. I repeated the process again and still nothing. So my Citrine sat there for over a week totally dead. Then I thought about pressing the reset button and low and behold it sprang to life minus the opening book bugs.
Yes I am in contact with Solar Wide.
Regards
Bryan
- Bryan Whitby
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1003
- Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:57 pm
- Location: England
-
- Member
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 10:10 pm
Level Setup for Kasparov Saitek Advanced Talking Chess Board
Hi all,
I just recently, last week, uncovered my old magnetic talking computer chess board to practice for playing people online at gameknot.com, which i just got into last month.
I don't remember what the levels are and the best way to set it up for gameplay and I was hoping one of you still had a manuel with your boards or would remember.
The options are A-1 through H-8. I assume it goes A-1 is easiest, then A-2.....B-1, B-2....H-8. Would that be correct? Sadly, I am having trouble winning unless it is on easy mode (handicap).
Also, what are the tournament openings?
Thank you so much for anyone who can help!!
Since this seems like a good place to ask, I just bought my first book on chess entitled Modern Chess Openings. Could anyone point another book for a amateur/intermediate looking to take his game to the next level?
Thank you,
I just recently, last week, uncovered my old magnetic talking computer chess board to practice for playing people online at gameknot.com, which i just got into last month.
I don't remember what the levels are and the best way to set it up for gameplay and I was hoping one of you still had a manuel with your boards or would remember.
The options are A-1 through H-8. I assume it goes A-1 is easiest, then A-2.....B-1, B-2....H-8. Would that be correct? Sadly, I am having trouble winning unless it is on easy mode (handicap).
Also, what are the tournament openings?
Thank you so much for anyone who can help!!
Since this seems like a good place to ask, I just bought my first book on chess entitled Modern Chess Openings. Could anyone point another book for a amateur/intermediate looking to take his game to the next level?
Thank you,
Re: Level Setup for Kasparov Saitek Advanced Talking Chess B
Hi Harry, I can do no better than to refer you to a book by InternationalHarryPottery wrote: Could anyone point another book for a amateur/intermediate looking to take his game to the next level?
Thank you,
Master Jeremy Silman called "Reassess Your Chess". To take your game
to the 'next level', as it were, you have to include strategy and endgame
knowledge as well as a modicum of opening knowledge.
all the best to you,
Larry
-
- Member
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 10:10 pm
Re: Level Setup for Kasparov Saitek Advanced Talking Chess B
Thank you Larry!Larry wrote:Hi Harry, I can do no better than to refer you to a book by InternationalHarryPottery wrote: Could anyone point another book for a amateur/intermediate looking to take his game to the next level?
Thank you,
Master Jeremy Silman called "Reassess Your Chess". To take your game
to the 'next level', as it were, you have to include strategy and endgame
knowledge as well as a modicum of opening knowledge.
all the best to you,
Larry
I will check it out promptly.
All the best,
Harry
- Monsieur Plastique
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1014
- Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:53 am
- Location: On top of a hill in eastern Australia
Re: list of our chess computers , let's share it
Hi Craig,CraigNBarnes wrote:Hi Everyone,
I realize I'm a few years late adding to the "collectors" discussion but I thought I'd add a bit more history...
I'm Craig Barnes. I worked with Julio Kaplan for many years developing chess computers. He recruited me in 1980 as part of a small company called Teletape Productions to develop a chess game for Mattel.
I think in my collection I have a couple of machines that you authored. They are the Saitek Sensor XL (which I believe is an 8K program) and the currently available Saitek Maestro Handheld (which I believe is a 16K program).
The Sensor XL is actually one of my favourite machines despite the tiny ROM and therefore (apart from anything else) the tiny openings book. It plays a competant and solid (safe) game and I guess it is around the high 1400s ELO mark. It would not surprise me if this dedicated machine is the strongest up-to-8K machine ever marketed. There is one amusing bug in that tiny openings book - in a King pawn line it loses it's Queen as white.
In games against these two machines myself I have actually found the Sensor XL to be harder to defeat than the Maestro, which is a little suprising given it rates higher in the various ELO lists. But the Maestro seems to be a bit more speculative / aggressive / open in style whereas the Sensor XL is solid.
I also have a Saitek Bullet - again a machine that I imagine you had a heavy involvement in. This seems to be stronger than the Sensor XL and of the three, it is the toughest opponent. The voice function is excellent and I really like the physical appearance and styling of the machine.
Give your history I am guessing you may have had heavy involvement in the original Scisys Sensor Chess and the associated plug-in modules (strong-play, hypermodern and classical). Is that the case?
I owned that machine soon after it came out and it was my first chess computer to play what I consider to be a decent game without the obvious weaknesses of the earlier generation. The modules were fantastic fun - plugging in the classical and hypermodern modules made for a lot of fun. Sadly years later I traded it in on a more current machine and I still regret doing that. It's one of the few machines I really miss.
Here in Australia that Sensor Chess was still concurrently available with the later-model Companion II / Explorer program which was by Kaare Danielsen. We played a lot of games between these two machines and on pure results the Companion II was only very slightly stronger (55% result), though the Sensor Chess with it's modules was a better and much more interesting opponent for the human, since it's style was similar to the Sensor XL. and it's play much more human-like.
Chess is like painting the Mona Lisa whilst walking through a minefield.
- Monsieur Plastique
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1014
- Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:53 am
- Location: On top of a hill in eastern Australia
Star Citrine?Chessmaster Ireland wrote:No it doesn't make the Citrine software any stronger (you will have to wait for the Star Citrine for that)
Does this mean there really will be new models from Novag? If so, I hope they do not just overhaul the top of the line program. Their 16K models really need a total refresh - they are still using a derivative of the program that began life as the Mentor 16 all those years ago. They really need a new program about 100 ELO stronger and less prone to making the ocassional, bizarre blunders for which the Star Opal / Carnelian II, etc have become infamous (at least in my household).
Chess is like painting the Mona Lisa whilst walking through a minefield.
-
- Full Member
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- Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 2:24 am
- Location: Kingsport, TN
I'll just share the link to my inventory on Google Docs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing