MCGE gets Blu-tooth

[southernlights]

I am very happy about the bluetooth module. This means the board can be interfaced eventually to the Internet chess sites. I like playing on a dedicated computer, but having it talk to another human and show the moves on the board would be outstanding.

Also it means I can buy a cheap Android tablet and load up lots of engines to play against. The tablet will be the same size as the dedicated computer so really no difference to me. I can shut off the screen after setting it up and just watch the lights on the board as I play.

I was going to buy a DGT board to interface to the Internet servers to play others, but without the lights it would mean looking at a screen to see the moves which was not ideal. Now hopefully Millenium will release a driver so I can play others and just focus on the board without needing to swivel back and forth between a screen and a board.

Thank you Millenium for this new bluetooth capability. I look forward to buying it to add to my board.

[southernlights]

I know you play the emulations because that is all we write about in the forums. My question is are you playing Shredder, Fruit, Rybka etc against yourself or against other computer programs?

Regards

I would play any engine that allows me to easily set up the level to something more inline with what we are used to with Elo ratings.

I have the MCGE with the Lang program. The ChessGenius is extremely strong and played to a draw against Hiarcs an my Mac i7 Quad core last time I tried. It is no pushover.

But, I'm not playing computer against computer. I play to train to be better at chess and cannot survive against the ChessGenius at full strength. So for me the most frustrating thing is it has these levels of seconds to think, but there is no way to know what approximate strength it is. I have a Mephisto Polgar and I can set it the Elo which is a lot easier to compare. For this reason, I prefer playing my Mephisto now to the MCGE just because it is a tamer program and the Elo settings makes it easy to understand where I am in approximate strength.

But on the Lang I can set it up to think for five seconds. But, what does that mean? Is that 1900? 1800? 2200?

Or you disable the permanent brain. Ok again, that's fine but what does that mean in total strength?

Or I can play the fun/easy levels and they make some mistakes. But again, what strength is that?

I'd much rather have a program that you:

1) Set Elo
2) Maybe set a sliding scale of aggressive to passive play.
3) Set time controls, etc.
4) Play.

I think engines like Shredder, etc. have this feature and others where you can more finely control how it plays. So in this sense, I would play these engines more than the built in Lang on the MCGE if I could load them onto a cheap Android tablet and connect to it with Bluetooth for instance. I could have a dozen engines.

Then I could connect to ICC or chess.com and play humans and have their moves show on the chessboard for an even wider experience with humans. The board could use the Android tablet to do the Internet connection. Easy.

So for me the ability to add engine modules today is not as important as being able to just connect to a device that can run everything I want. They are releasing the King module which is fine (and I'm likely to buy). But I think they could just as easily include an Android tablet with 10 engines pre-loaded (or Raspberry Pi) that connects to the chessboard and it would be just as good and far cheaper in the long run than making dedicated hardware boxes for each engine.

[Mythbuster]

Hi,
the King module will be made out of wood ... the one at Nürnberg was a prototype ... the I have attached the PDF with the data and photo in this posting: https://www.schachcomputer.info/forum/s ... ostcount=7

By the way, I belong like Hans to the Beta team and here are my first preview ... it gets weekly updates: https://www.schachcomputer.info/forum/s ... php?t=5647

Greets,
Sascha

[spacious_mind]

Hi,
the King module will be made out of wood ... the one at Nürnberg was a prototype ... the I have attached the PDF with the data and photo in this posting: https://www.schachcomputer.info/forum/s ... ostcount=7

By the way, I belong like Hans to the Beta team and here are my first preview ... it gets weekly updates: https://www.schachcomputer.info/forum/s ... php?t=5647

Greets,
Sascha

Hi Sascha,

Thanks, I have been following your post and I appreciate that you are focusing on the King's playing abilities.

It is really great to see that Millennium has made a big effort to allow a person to control the hardware all the way down to 10 MHz. I have always found that doing it this way makes the quality of the games so much better than some sort of a software control which I never liked because it always feels as if a programmer is humoring you and also avoiding a real comparison against older hardware.

It looks like King is going to be a beast!

Do you know if they will also sell it with the Millennium Chess board or only as module?

Best regards

[MikeB]

Hi,
the King module will be made out of wood ... the one at Nürnberg was a prototype ... the I have attached the PDF with the data and photo in this posting: https://www.schachcomputer.info/forum/s ... ostcount=7

By the way, I belong like Hans to the Beta team and here are my first preview ... it gets weekly updates: https://www.schachcomputer.info/forum/s ... php?t=5647

Greets,
Sascha

Hi Sascha,

Thanks, I have been following your post and I appreciate that you are focusing on the King's playing abilities.

It is really great to see that Millennium has made a big effort to allow a person to control the hardware all the way down to 10 MHz. I have always found that doing it this way makes the quality of the games so much better than some sort of a software control which I never liked because it always feels as if a programmer is humoring you and also avoiding a real comparison against older hardware.

It looks like King is going to be a beast!

Do you know if they will also sell it with the Millennium Chess board or only as module?

Best regards

Thanks for the link. It is interesting that they are dummying down the King the same way I had dummy down Stockfish in McBrain - they are limiting the nodes searched and they also , at the weakest levels are limiting to to 60 to 125 nodes or so , similar how I implemented it in McBrain last summer. Most authors have dummy down their engines by inserting randomness into the move selection - but often that will cause program to make a real clunker of a move in a position no human good club player would ever make. Limiting nodes is much better method. Also, they are going to let users adjust the pieces values etc , just like they were able to do with the King =in the PC version - so this is good news as well. For the first time, one will able to create an infinite number of playing personalities in a dedicated unit. And we all know that one will be able to buy just the King Module if they already have the board and the pieces , and the model has been upgraded with wood trim and bluetooth functionality for much easier method to pull the game score into your PC.

I believe will see The King Module released before July 1st, should be a huge hit to finally get a much superior dedicated chess unit strength wise than the Tasc R40 at very affordable price.

Dedicated Chess Computer Resurgence Regards,

MikeB

Also below is a google transition of the pdf file in Sascha's post:

Code: Select all

NEW: MILLENNIUM The King
The long awaited program MILLENNIUM The King by the well-known Dutch programmer Johan de Koning will be released in mid-2018 as an extension of the ChessGenius Exclusive. At the request of numerous chess friends and in reminiscence of the legendary TASC chess computers, the new MILLENNIUM module was designed in an elegant wooden housing in "retro design".
What is the difference between the two MILLENNIUM chess programs?
The ChessGenius program impresses with its excellent strategic positional play, exploits enemy mistakes mercilessly and is considered particularly strong in the final. On the other hand, The King often actively and dynamically plays for space, pushing the opponent back and pleasing through his tactical attacking game, making it even for very strong human opponents difficult to beat. This should make The King the first choice for ambitious chess enthusiasts who are looking for an extremely strong training partner.
 Outstanding playing power of The King
• The first available test results are excellent
• According to insiders, it could be possible that the first "classic"
Chess computer will reach a grandmaster level of ≤ 2500 Elo
Advanced program equipment from The King
• Variably adjustable game styles with different characteristics
• Individually adjustable program parameters (e.g., selectivity, random factor,
Material, royal security, ...)

[Steve B]

. Also, they are going to let users adjust the pieces values etc , just like they were able to do with the King =in the PC version - so this is good news as well. For the first time, one will able to create an infinite number of playing personalities in a dedicated unit.

Hi Mike
just for the record
many of the Mephisto Lang programs allowed the user to adjust the piece values
Lyon,Vancouver,Genius...etc..etc..
also several older dedicated computers had an option to allow the user to change the computers playing style(I.E. risky,solid...active...etc..etc..)
actually the MCGE has this option now

Just Sayin Regards
Steve

[MikeB]

. Also, they are going to let users adjust the pieces values etc , just like they were able to do with the King =in the PC version - so this is good news as well. For the first time, one will able to create an infinite number of playing personalities in a dedicated unit.

Hi Mike
just for the record
many of the Mephisto Lang programs allowed the user to adjust the piece values
Lyon,Vancouver,Genius...etc..etc..
also several older dedicated computers had an option to allow the user to change the computers playing style(I.E. risky,solid...active...etc..etc..)
actually the MCGE has this option now

Just Sayin Regards
Steve

SteveB you are correct of course, you must excuse me, it's been a while since I last played a Mephisto Exclusive 68030. And I did notice ( but had already forgotten by the time I was posting) yesterday the new features on the MCGE after upgrading. speaking about that upgrade, one shoukd make sure they upgrade with the board connected. And if you did do not so, it appears now the board must connected or it goes to endless loop when booting, re-upgrading with the board connected will fix that problem. It's not a real problem since as soon as you connect the board, it will boot anyways.

Looking Forward to the Upgraded King Module Regards,
MikeB

[MikeB]

The idea is to connect the Millennium chess board with any android tablet, mobile phone or iOS pad or phone.

A) you would get plenty of new engines
B) can play on the wooden piece recognition board instead using fingers or mouse.

+1 and and 81 LEDs - you just look at board and not look at a screen, the way chess was designed to be played - it certainly allows for better focus on the board

[chesspcmac]

Now finally I have a nice chess computer collection, the MCGE chess computer doesn't excite me much. It looks cheap and is too small for my taste. But if I didn't have a TASC probably I would buy one. The only thing that I wish for is a robotic arm to be able to connect it to my Rev II or my DGT board. 2 years ago there were some people talking about it but now the conversation is dead. If somebody could just write the software and sell it, that would be great.

dreaming is cheap regards


mike

[Rob Appleby]

So it will allow using Winboard and UCI engines from an android or other computer and interface to the board.

Hi Ray
not interested in this of course
Steeve

This is actually the thing that might make me consider getting a board like this: signaling of moves on the board so that I can simply plug it into my pc/mbp and play a game against whatever engine I desire, or against a human opponent via lichess or whatever.

The DGT boards look like great input devices, just a shame they don't have the output signal on the board. If someone made a board like this I'd probably buy it if I could plug it into chessx or the Hiarcs interface (more interested in the former tbh since I'm playing a lot of 960). Of course it would be nice if it was tournament size.

OK, having read more posts, i can see I'm not the only one interested in this option. I think a tournament size board with nice pieces and led move signalling would definitely have a market.

[blaubaer]

Hi Rob,

DGT+LEDs equals Revelation II by Phoenix Chess Systems (in DGT eboard mode)!

Unfortunately the price is not at all the same...

Sorry for that Regards, Michael

[fourthirty]

Hi Rob,

DGT+LEDs equals Revelation II by Phoenix Chess Systems (in DGT eboard mode)!

Unfortunately the price is not at all the same...

Sorry for that Regards, Michael

Hi Michael,

Your Rev II LEDs work in DGT eboard mode? Which computer program are you using? They don't seem to work when I interface my Rev II with Fritz.

Thank you,
Greg

[blaubaer]

Hi Greg,

wirh DGT Pi/Picochess the LEDs work. I don't remember the version - Al should know it...

Regards, Michael

[blaubaer]

Hi Greg,

wirh DGT Pi/Picochess the LEDs work. I don't remember the version, some time ago I tested that - Al should know it...

Regards, Michael

[Scally]

Hi Greg,

wirh DGT Pi/Picochess the LEDs work. I don't remember the version - Al should know it...

Regards, Michael

Yes. The Rev2 LED’s flash to show its move wether using the inbuilt engines or remote PC Engines, using the Emulations and using PicoChess via Bluetooth.


Cheers,

Al.