Collector's Corner...History of Mephisto

[Steve B]

Adam Hair (a moderator on the CCC) has an interesting article on his web-site chronicling the history of the Mephisto brand of dedicated chess computers

Part One is completed:

http://adamsccpages.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... art-1.html

other articles on dedicated computers :

http://adamsccpages.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... ation.html

http://adamsccpages.blogspot.com/2012/0 ... ger-1.html

The Oldies Will Never Die Regards
Steve

[Larry]

Well a big congrats on a great site. I put it straight into my 'favorites'
for future reference.
Now I don't mean to be picky, but I have to point out a slight
factual inaccuracy. The Novag SuperConstellation is described as being
able to solve KBN/k endings. Sorry, but it can't. Only the Novag 'Expert'
from the following year can do that.
Looking forward to further developments in the site.
all the best...
Larry

[Steve B]

Well a big congrats on a great site. I put it straight into my 'favorites'
for future reference.
Now I don't mean to be picky, but I have to point out a slight
factual inaccuracy. The Novag SuperConstellation is described as being
able to solve KBN/k endings. Sorry, but it can't. Only the Novag 'Expert'
from the following year can do that.
Looking forward to further developments in the site.
all the best...
Larry

It Can mate with B+N Larry
right there on the Super Connie box it says it can mate with B+N
never tested it myself though so i set up this position..

[fen]4k3/8/8/8/8/8/8/3NKB2 w - - 0 1[/fen]

level 5 ..1-3 minutes per move
Super C was able to mate easily
i also set up the position on the Nalimov Endgame Table Base Site and played the best defense for black..that is..the moves leading to the longest resistance

Super Connie replied instantly almost every time and in most cases found the move that lead to the quickest mate(although not always)

Correcting the Correction Regards
Steve

[Larry]

I have to stand corrected!... apologies all round. All these years I
thought the Expert was the only machine capable of solving this.
What I did was set up the same KBN/k position on both SuperConnie
and Expert, and let SC play attacking side. It seemed to be making senseless
moves, so I gave up... too early it seems.

Larry

[ricard60]

Another 8 bit machine that can win KBN/K is the fidelity designer 2100 and i believe there are not much 8 bit machines that knows how to win this ending.

8 bit endings regards
Ricardo

[Steve B]

While we are on the Subject of Mephisto..

My Mephisto ESB II board(with ESB II module) went belly up several years ago and it was recently repaired

after such a long period of inactivity i was eager to put it to the test to see if was battle ready
I matched it up against the Russian Mattel..an upgrade of the Mattel "Computer Chess" released in 1980(which was the very first portable chess computer to have LCD Pieces)
some differences were..
the upgrade included a small 2k book and it did not take batteries..
(a big no-no for a portable)
the battery compartment seems to have been modified from the normal Mattel with what appears to be the upgrade module obscuring the two middle battery slots



Russia had white
level 3(10 Sec-5 Min. per move)
ESB II was on level C4(45 Sec./Avg..Best move...Beep ON)
at this level ESB II just about completes a 3 ply search

both computers were out of book on move 3


[Date "2012.8.5"]
[White "Russian Mattel"]
[Black "Mephisto ESB II"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d4 Nc6 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.f3 O-O 7.Qd2 d5
8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.e5 Qe7 10.Qd4 Re8 11.f4 Ng4 12.Bd3 f6 13.h3 Nh6 14.e6 Bc5
15.Qa4 Qxe6+ 16.Kd2 Qe3+ 17.Kd1 Qf2 18.Qxc6 Bxh3 19.Qxd5+ Be6 20.Qf3 Bg4

[fen]r3r1k1/p1p3pp/5p1n/2b5/5Pb1/2NB1Q2/PPP2qP1/R1BK3R w - - 0 21[/fen]

ESB II shows a hexadecimal score here of 8584...which the manual explains roughly translates to +5

21.Qxg4 Nxg4 22.Bxh7+ Kf7 23.Be4 Qd4+ 24.Ke1 f5 25.Rh3 fxe4 26.g3 Qf2+
27.Kd1 e3 28.Bxe3 Nxe3+


[fen]r3r3/p1p2kp1/8/2b5/5P2/2N1n1PR/PPP2q2/R2K4 w - - 0 29[/fen]
ESB II announces a mate in 1 here

29.Kc1 Qxc2# 0-1

Well it missed a few mates in 3-5 back there ...still..not badly played by the ESB II which had been lounging around doing nothing for a few years

Welcome Back Old Friend Regards
Steve

[Adam Hair]

Well a big congrats on a great site. I put it straight into my 'favorites'
for future reference.
Now I don't mean to be picky, but I have to point out a slight
factual inaccuracy. The Novag SuperConstellation is described as being
able to solve KBN/k endings. Sorry, but it can't. Only the Novag 'Expert'
from the following year can do that.
Looking forward to further developments in the site.
all the best...
Larry

Thanks, Larry. My appreciation for the history of dedicated chess computers is inversely proportional to my knowledge of them. Since I know very little, my appreciation is quite high .

Anyway, I pick the subject on which I will write and then do a lot of reading. Then, I lean heavily on Steve to get the facts rights. By writing about the the history of computer chess, I get to learn and hopefully help others learn a few new things.

Of course, there will be very little, in regards to dedicated chess computers, that will be new to the active participants of Collector's Corner.

[Steve B]

Well a big congrats on a great site. I put it straight into my 'favorites'
for future reference.
Now I don't mean to be picky, but I have to point out a slight
factual inaccuracy. The Novag SuperConstellation is described as being
able to solve KBN/k endings. Sorry, but it can't. Only the Novag 'Expert'
from the following year can do that.
Looking forward to further developments in the site.
all the best...
Larry

Thanks, Larry. My appreciation for the history of dedicated chess computers is inversely proportional to my knowledge of them. Since I know very little, my appreciation is quite high .

Anyway, I pick the subject on which I will write and then do a lot of reading. Then, I lean heavily on Steve to get the facts rights. By writing about the the history of computer chess, I get to learn and hopefully help others learn a few new things.

Of course, there will be very little, in regards to dedicated chess computers, that will be new to the active participants of Collector's Corner.

Well you are being a bit too modest Adam
you know as well as i do that my main contribution to your blogs on dedicated computers can be characterized as nothing more then

Spell Checking Regards
Steve