Weakest Dedicated Chess Computer

This forum is for general discussions and questions, including Collectors Corner and anything to do with Computer chess.

Moderators: Harvey Williamson, Steve B, Watchman

Forum rules
This textbox is used to restore diagrams posted with the fen tag before the upgrade.
User avatar
spacious_mind
Senior Member
Posts: 3999
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:20 pm
Location: Alabama
Contact:

Post by spacious_mind »

Dubliner wrote:
spacious_mind wrote:Well, easily the weakest dedicated chess computer in my opinon has to be Novag's Disney Magic Castle.

It is probably even worse than Novag's Delta 1.

Regards
Hello Nick,
Old post I know.
Even the delta 1 beats me.
Can you explain what button to the left of the 'new game' is for ( as I can not find the manual anywhere ) it looks like a hammer but it might be for castleing.
Love your web site.
Regards.

Gosh it has been a long time since I played with it. Without searching out the manual, if I recall (vaguely), you press it with maybe followed by "Enter" and it forces the computer to play its move.

Best regards
Nick
User avatar
Cyberchess
Full Member
Posts: 658
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 6:10 pm

Post by Cyberchess »

The first commercially available dedicated unit, The Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 of 1977, would, in certain situations, make and/or permit illegal moves. This flaw wasn’t discovered until after the first production run was on the shelves, and word soon spread like wildfire in chess circles that these units weren’t worth the investment because they didn’t yet even conform to the rules of the game. This simple oversight involving the rules pertaining to castling could have easily been avoided with some QA, but in their haste to market the first dedicated unit, Fidelity Electronics garnered a bad reputation for this flaw, which was later corrected in the Chess Challenger 3 unit.

Haste Makes Waste Regards,
John
kosterix
Member
Posts: 81
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2017 11:35 am

Post by kosterix »

ricard60 wrote:Hi cubeman,

Yes novag solo had the same engine as the novag escort did.

http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/in ... vag_Escort

back to weakest elo regards
Ricardo
That contradicts the elo rating difference 1033 - 979
Strive for avoiding anything flat that emits light. Love the unhackable chess computer with real pieces and a tactile feel. I do not collect, I live.
Larry
Senior Member
Posts: 2269
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:42 am
Location: Gosford, NSW Australia

Re: Weakest Dedicated Chess Computer

Post by Larry »

Steve B wrote:

playing a game on the CC1 was brutally painful due to the mistake in the notation
Steve, I think we were all hoodwinked by the legendary programmer
Ron Nelson. He reasoned that since the strength of a chess program
is a function of how hard it is to beat, then it made perfect sense to
reverse the board notation. After all, did'nt this simple strategy make
it a tougher opponent?
Nelson was an astute business operator.
L
JeffB
Member
Posts: 420
Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:36 pm
Location: Seattle, WA USA

Post by JeffB »

Fidelity Chess Card and Saitek Calculator chess deserve honorable mention, methinks...
Cheers,

Jeff B.
Post Reply