Scisys Mk VI vs Mephisto III

[Peter Grayson]

Knew I had a stash of old dedicated computer game scores hard copied somewhere and seeing the old machines mentioned here cast my mind back to the actual playing strength. On reflection I suppose they weren't too good but they are still quite enjoyable to look through.

Here the Scisys Mk VI was tested against the Mephisto III circa early 1986. I wasn't sure if this was actually the MM3 as I can't remember the dates these machines came out. Irrespective of that, clearly the game score indicates the Mephisto III was a notch or two above the Mk VI.

[Event "40/120"]
[Site "Newport, South Wales"]
[Date "1986.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Scisys Mk VI"]
[Black "Mephisto III"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C02"]
[Annotator "Grayson,Peter"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[TimeControl "40/120"]

{ } 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3
Qb6 6. Be2 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nge7 8. Nc3 Nf5 9. Na4 Bb4+ 10. Kf1 Qa5 11. a3 Be7 12.
Bf4 O-O 13. b4 Qd8 14. Qd2 f6 15. b5 fxe5 16. dxe5 Na5 17. Qd3 Nc4 18. Qc3 Qc7
19. Kg1 Bd7 20. Bxc4 dxc4 21. Qb2 Nh4 22. Nxh4 Rxf4 23. Nf3 Rg4 24. h3 Rg6 25.
Rd1 Rf8 26. Kh2 a6 27. b6 Qc6 28. Nc3 Bc5 29. Rb1 Bxa3 (29... Rxg2+ 30. Kxg2
Qxf3+ 31. Kh2 Bxf2 32. Rhg1 Qf4+ 33. Kh1 Bc6+ 34. Nd5 Bxd5+ 35. Rg2 Qg3 36.
Qxf2 Rxf2 37. Rbg1 Qxh3#) 30. Qd2 (30. Qxa3 Rxg2+ 31. Kxg2 Qxf3+ 32. Kh2 Qxf2#)
(30. Qe2 {hangs on a bit longer}) 30... Bc5 (30... Rxg2+ 31. Kxg2 Qxf3+ 32. Kh2
Bc6) 31. Rhd1 Rxg2+ 32. Kxg2 Rxf3 33. Kf1 Rd3 34. Qb2 Bd4 35. Qa2 Qh1+ 36. Ke2
Qf3+ 37. Kf1 Qxh3+ 38. Ke2 Bxc3 39. Rdc1 Re3+ 40. Kd1 Re1+ 41. Kc2 Qd3# 0-1

Immediately below that was an earlier score of a game I played against the Mk VI in 1983, again highlighting the knowledge gaps in the code ....

[Event "40/120"]
[Site "Newport, South Wales"]
[Date "1986.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Scisys Mk VI"]
[Black "Peter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B50"]
[Annotator "Grayson,Peter"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[TimeControl "40/120"]

{ } 1. Nf3 c5 2. g3 Nc6 3. e4 d6 4. Nc3 g6 5. Be2
{clearly fianchetto rules were missing here!} Bg7 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8.
Bf4 a6 9. Qd2 b5 10. Rfe1 Bb7 11. Qc1 Qd7 12. Bd2 {without being unkind, this
type of self cramping style was all too common when these early programs were
lost for a continuation} Nd4 13. Nxd4 cxd4 14. Nd1 e5 15. Bf3 d5 16. Bb4 dxe4
17. Bxf8 exf3 18. Rxe5 Qh3 {I recorded here - White resigned} 19. Ne3 Ng4 20.
Rh5 gxh5 21. Bxg7 Qxh2+ 22. Kf1 Qxf2# 0-1

Incredible really as to how far we've come in almost 25 years where from 1400 Elo dedicated machines to a very affordable chess opponent playing around GM strength at the throw of a switch! (but on a PC)

PeterG

[Steve B]

hi Peter

thanks for the memories

no surprises that the Mephisto III would eat the Mark VI's lunch

SS rates the Philidor/MarkVI at 1428 while the Mep III is a hefty 1479

what was nice with the Mark VI module was that it had drivers that could power the sensor board attachment to the main computer

the Mark V did not have these drivers



Yesteryear Regards
Steve