Collector's Corner...On The Scisys TurboStar 540 Plus

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Steve B
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Collector's Corner...On The Scisys TurboStar 540 Plus

Post by Steve B »

Just received in the Scisys TurboStar 540 Plus
the only difference from the 432 i can see is it runs 38% faster (5.53 Mhz Vs. 4 Mhz)
it also has the KSO book module
to verify the faster speed i set up this simple position:
[fen]rnbqkbnr/1pppppp1/8/p6p/P6P/2N5/1PPPPPP1/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3[/fen]
TurboStar 432 intially wants to play e5 then switches to d5 in 208 Seconds
540 Plus intially wants to play e5 then switches to d5 in 150 Seconds

Not much is written about the 540+ so i thought i would put it to the test
against the Strongest PC engine money could buy back in 1993...
National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1

In the Game
Maniac had white
both computers were out of book at move 7
Maniac miscalculates on move 22 and drops a N for a P
It then follows up with a dubious N sacrifice and when
the smoke clears it is down 2 Pieces for 3 Pawns
Turbo wipes the board with the Maniac from here

[Date "2012.5.25"]
[White "Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1"]
[Black "Scisys TurboStar 540 Plus"]
[Time Control "1 Min. Avg."]
[Result "0-1"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.Bg5 Bg7 8.Qa4+
Bd7 9.Qh4 O-O 10.e4 Re8 11.Bd3 b5 12.O-O c4 13.Bc2 a5 14.Rfe1 Na6
15.Rad1 Nb4 16.Bb1 Qe7 17.Rf1 Na6 18.Bc2 Nc5 19.Rfe1 h6 20.Bxh6 Bxh6
21.Qxh6 b4 22.e5 Ng4 23.Qg5 Qxg5 24.Nxg5 bxc3 25.Nxf7 Kxf7 26.e6+ Kf6
27.Rd4 Nh6 28.Rxc4 cxb2 29.Rb1 Bb5 30.Rd4 Nf5 31.Rf4 Bd3 32.Rxb2 Reb8
33.Rxb8 Rxb8 34.Bb3 a4 35.g4 axb3 36.axb3 Kg5 37.gxf5 Kxf4 38.fxg6 Rxb3
39.h4 Bxg6 40.Kg2 Be4+ 41.Kf1 Bf3 42.Ke1 Ne4 43.e7 Rb1# 0-1

FINAL POSITION
[fen]8/4P3/3p4/3P4/4nk1P/5b2/5P2/1r2K3 w - - 0 44[/fen]

Need a stronger opponent Regards
Steve
Larry
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Post by Larry »

So it was you who bought the TS540. Yes, little is known about it,
from what I read, in the 540, the "5" stands for 5mhz and the "40"
is the amount of ROM, up from 32 in the standard TS432. The extra
8kb rom is the KSO module data built into the mainboard.
I also followed this auction, and thought you paid a pretty penny
for it. Admittedly, they are rare, so much so that you might never
see another one up on ebay.


Larry
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

Larry wrote:So it was you who bought the TS540. Yes, little is known about it,
from what I read, in the 540, the "5" stands for 5mhz and the "40"
is the amount of ROM, up from 32 in the standard TS432. The extra
8kb rom is the KSO module data built into the mainboard.
I also followed this auction, and thought you paid a pretty penny
for it. Admittedly, they are rare, so much so that you might never
see another one up on ebay.


Larry
Yes i did
i was willing to pay even more too
the 540 upgrade was only offered for a short time here in the states
it was actually an authorized upgrade to an existing 432
the box and manuals are the same
(..except for some stickers indicating it was upgraded)
Authorized Overclocking Regards
Steve
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Post by Steve B »

Brushing aside the weak chess played by PC Engines..
i wanted to give the TBS 540+ a REAL challenge
i chose the Fidelity EAG V5
actually i had two goals in mind here
i wanted the V5 to get some practice in before its 2 game live match against
the Novag Diablo operated by Lars Sandin (of SSDF fame)
there is a bit of a twist here however..
rather then let the V5 play with both guns ablazing(dual processors)
i elected to dis-engage one of the processors
this makes the V5 a bit weaker then a normal V2
The Manual for the V5 mentions that with one processor shut down the V5 runs at about 98% of the speed of a normal EAG V2

In the Game both computers were Out Of Book early at move 3
at this TC V5 searches about 2200-2500 Nodes per second
and hits 6 ply
TS sacs a Pawn early to eliminate the ability for the V5 to 0-0
sadly..it goes astray ,exchanging pieces and its attack fizzles leaving it the P behind
The endgame belongs to the V5 with its extra P
Promotion eventually follows and a mate announcal ends the game abruptly


[Date "2012.05.25"]
[White "Saitek TurboStar 540+"]
[Black "Fidelity EAG V5(Single Processor)"]
[Time Control "1 Min.Avg."]
[Result "0-1"]

1.Nc3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nf3 Bf5 4.Bf4 Nh5 5.e3 Nxf4 6.exf4 e6 7.Bd3 Bg4 8.h3
Bh5 9.O-O c5 10.Bb5+ Nc6 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.g4 Bg6 13.f5 exf5 14.Re1+ Kf8
15.Nxd5 fxg4 16.hxg4 Bxc2 17.Qd2 Qd6 18.Kf1 Bg6 19.Rac1 Rd8 20.Qc3 Bxf2
21.Kxf2 Qxd5 22.Bxc6 bxc6 23.Qxc6 Qxc6 24.Rxc6 Rb8 25.b3 Ra8 26.Rc7 h5
27.Rh1 Rh6 28.g5 Rh8 29.Ne5 a6 30.Nxg6+ fxg6 31.Kg3 Kg8 32.Re1 h4+
33.Kh3 Rf8 34.Ra7 Rf3+ 35.Kg4 Rg3+ 36.Kf4 Kh7 37.Rh1 Rf8+ 38.Ke4 h3
39.Rxa6 Rf5 40.Ra7 Rfxg5 41.Kd4 R5g4+ 42.Kc5 Rc3+ 43.Kb5 Rd4 44.b4 Rd5+
45.Kb6 Rd6+ 46.Kb5 g5 47.a4 g4 48.a5 Rh6 49.a6 g3 50.Rd7 g2 51.Rdd1
gxh1=Q 52.Rxh1 h2 53.a7 Ra3 54.a8=Q Rxa8 55.Kc4 g5 56.Kd5 g4 57.Ke4 Ra4
58.Ke3 Rh3+ 59.Kf4 Rxb4+ 60.Kg5 g3 61.Rd1 g2 62.Rd7+ Kg8 63.Rd8+ Kf7
64.Rf8+ *

FINAL POSITION

[fen]5R2/5k2/8/6K1/1r6/7r/6pp/8 w - - 0 64[/fen]
V5 Announces a Mate In 5 Here

By This Game V5 declares it will show ..

No Sympathy For The Devil Regards
Steve
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Post by Steve B »

Continuing with the EAG V5 Training Program for the upcoming match Vs.Novag Diablo....
I choose another PC Engine from 1993
The Oxford Toolworks "Complete Chess System"
i couldn't find an SSDF rating for it back then but the company tested it with several BT chess positions and they wrote
" From the standard calculation method, this give a German ELO
estimate of 2098 (equivalent to UK ELO of 2258, USCF of 2358)."

This game the V5 had both processors running at full steam
TC 30 Sec.Avg.
In the Game V5 had white
both computers were Out of Book at move 8
On my computer CCS hits about 7 Ply at this TC and the V5 6ply
the game was fairly even throughout with neither side posting scores greater then +/- .40
piece exchanges were the rule of the day and a dead drawn endgame was reached
kinda reminds me of the Current Human Chess World Championship Match
:P


[Date "2012.5.27"]
[White "EAG V5"]
[Black "Complete Chess System"]
[Time Control "30 Sec.Avg."]
[Result "1/2-1/2*"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.O-O d6 7.c4 Bd7 8.Be3
e5 9.Nf3 Ng4 10.Bd2 Nc6 11.Qb3 Rb8 12.Nc3 Be7 13.Nd5 O-O
14.Rad1 Nf6 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.h3 Be6 17.Qb6 Nd7 18.Qe3 Nc5 19.Be2 f5
20.exf5 Bxf5 21.Qg5 Rf6 22.Qh5 Bg6 23.Qg4 Bc2 24.Bg5 Bxd1 25.Rxd1 Rbf8
26.Bxf6 Qxf6 27.Qg3 e4 28.Nd2 Qxb2 29.Qxd6 Qd4 30.Qg3 Qe5 31.Qxe5 Nxe5
32.f3 exf3 33.Nxf3 Ng6 34.Nd4 b6 35.Bf3 Rd8 36.Bd5+ Kh8 37.Rb1 Nd7
38.Ne6 Rc8 39.Bb7 Rxc4 40.Rd1 Nge5 41.Bxa6 Rc6 42.Bb5 Rxe6 43.Bxd7 Nxd7
44.Rxd7 Kg8 45.Kf2 Rf6+ 46.Ke3 Rf7 47.Rd8+ Rf8 48.Rxf8+ Kxf8 49.Kd4 Ke7
50.Kc4 Kd6 51.Kb5 Kc7 52.g3 Kb7 53.h4 g6 54.g4 Kc7 55.g5 Kb7 56.Kc4 Kc6
57.Kb4 b5 58.Kb3 Kc5 59.Kc3 b4+ 60.Kd3 Kd5 61.Kd2 Ke4 62.Kc2 Kd4 63.Kb3
Kc5 *

Final Position

[fen]8/7p/6p1/2k3P1/1p5P/1K6/P7/8 w - - 0 64[/fen]


A draw with a 2358 USCF Engine...
El Diablo..i know your down there watching..

Bring It Regards
Steve
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