Millenium new release of chess computer

[klute]

the box (not the manual) does mention there are 20,000 book positions

Our next collective ChessGenius task then is to meticulously discover and document the entire opening book...

...ply by ply for the next 20 years Regards

[klute]

3....Nd4

Yes - Bird's Defense!!!

Bird's Defence to the Ruy isn't as rare as is sometimes thought and it's also more playable than is sometimes thought.

It's most famous in Schachcomputer lore as a pet defence of the original Conchess with its severely limited opening book...

...virtually forcing you to buy a now quite rare L0 cartridge Regards

[spacious_mind]

I want to order one here in the uSA. The best place you guys recommend to place my order is.......
Buying regards
Mike

Mike,
It is good to shop around online. Some examples include: Chess USA is charging 199, Chess House is charging 149.
I purchased from Chess House and they were very professional.

Good luck,
Dave

Thanks Dave! 1st wave of these came in and promptly went out!

If anyone is looking, we are allowing back orders and expect a new shipment before Christmas.

Because delayed Genius is better than none at all...

Professionally yours,

I have to agree with Dave, Chesshouse has been very courteous and I especially liked the personal follow up with emails keeping you informed of order status. Free shipping was also a plus.

Best regards

[Steve B]

Aside from the Adaptors short cord and non-existent "Contrast" feature ..Another immaterial comment I can make about the MCG ..
they included 3 AA batteries in the official package
a nice touch I think

it does pose a problem for me though..
I always try to keep all originally shipped items intact
if a computer ships with an adaptor I'll keep it
chess boards ,manuals ,brochure's ,pieces..packing material ...etc..etc
whatever the manufacturer chose to ship when releasing a computer for sale I will hold on to

this might prove messy in years to come with battery leakage
I am wondering if I should wrap the batteries in Pampers??

XXX Hardcore Collecting Regards
Steve

[klute]

they included 3 AA batteries in the official package
a nice touch I think

it does pose a problem for me though..
I always try to keep all originally shipped items intact
if a computer ships with an adaptor I'll keep it
chess boards ,manuals ,brochure's ,pieces..packing material ...etc..etc
whatever the manufacturer chose to ship when releasing a computer for sale I will hold on to

this might prove messy in years to come with battery leakage
I am wondering if I should wrap the batteries in Pampers??

XXX Hardcore Collecting Regards
Steve

As a connoisseur of Schachcomputer packaging materials, I heartily concur about the absolute necessity to keep everything - and I mean everything - as originally supplied - and to try to keep it all as minty as possible.

I've kept my original ChessGenius batteries unused and mint... I will keep any eye on them as the years pass by.

It's perhaps best to keep them away from the transparent plastic tray in case they eventually leak though.

I also never use mint manuals - I simply have PDF copies of manuals for particular machines when I need to refer to them.

Original Schachcomputer plastic bags, cardboard inserts and vacuum-formed trays are worth...

...their weight in gold Regards

[Steve B]

- and to try to keep it all as minty as possible.

See that's where we diverge
I know you have been collecting as long as I have and I guess you can somehow manage to play with the computers and at the same time keep them in mint condition
I admire that actually
I am too much of a slob to be able to manage that
after years of use most of my computers show the signs of day to day usage
nothing major but the inevitable dings,small scratches,coffee stains, other stains (which we need not get into here in a public forum)...etc.etc

if I had to guestimate I would say less then 5% of my computers could be described as "Mint"
probably most would qualify as in "good "condition though..

Cant Take Me Anywhere Regards
Steve

[Fernando]

- and to try to keep it all as minty as possible.

See that's where we diverge
I know you have been collecting as long as I have and I guess you can somehow manage to play with the computers and at the same time keep them in mint condition
I admire that actually
I am too much of a slob to be able to manage that
after years of use most of my computers show the signs of day to day usage
nothing major but the inevitable dings,small scratches,coffee stains, other stains (which we need not get into here in a public forum)...etc.etc

if I had to guestimate I would say less then 5% of my computers could be described as "Mint"
probably most would qualify as in "good "condition though..

Cant Take Me Anywhere Regards
Steve

Steve:
As a book collector I can reassure you that a second hand book without marks of being used does not have same valor as the one it have those marks. The footprints of old owners give life and history to the thing.
So...

Keep staining, scraping and smashing your comps regards
Fern

[paulwise3]

I wonder when the day will come when someone here will talk and comment of HIS personal games against the new machine

Until now the only three games I played against the MCG were some quickies at the day I received mine. The first two I lost without a chance. The third (at level 0 secs and pondering off) I managed to win, still not easy if you allow yourself little thinking time
My playing strength is somewhere between 1600-1800, may have been stronger, but that was 35 years ago when I was playing in a club...

[Monsieur Plastique]

I think I will also need to change all of the lighting fixtures in my den
tried the contrast settings again from 0 to 9
back light on/off
while on my move and while the computer was pondering
absolutely no difference

Steve,

You will notice the contrast feature most markedly with the backlight off whilst looking at the display at angle typical of what you might experience if you were sitting at a table actually playing against the machine. So, for practical purposes the board might be just under 2 feet total distance from your eyes and maybe around 1 foot in front of them.

If you still can't see any differences then instead of looking at the pieces, look at the vacant squares whilst changing the setting from 9 to 0 (which of course you can do with one button press as it just loops through the 9 settings). With full batteries and contrast 9, you will see the vacant squares darken noticeably in this scenario. With it on 0, the vacant squares assume the natural colour of the LCD board itself without the additive darkening hue of contrast 9.

As I also mentioned, the effects become more noticeable as the batteries wear down which for practical purposes would be the main reason for using it (though I suppose it may make a difference outdoors).

Also, as for batteries, I strongly recommend you use them up right now. If not in the machine, then in something else. Otherwise, one day you will open the box for your yearly or bi-yearly inspection, see white power and paste everywhere and you will have a mess on your hands. The only saving grace will be that the machine itself is in a separate cardboard tray and is also enclosed in a strong plastic bag.

Battery leakage is inevitable - more so as the stored energy depletes over time. It might not happen within 5 years, but it will eventually happen.

[Monsieur Plastique]

My playing strength is somewhere between 1600-1800, may have been stronger, but that was 35 years ago when I was playing in a club...

I've done a fair bit of experimentation with the Genius outside of full tournament mode. The lowest level out of the box (instant, pondering off) is around 1400 ELO or thereabouts - maybe about 30 to 50 points weaker than old machines such as the Saitek Cavalier, Express 16K on their tournament levels. At the 2 second level it's around the high 1500s so is comparable to something like a modern Mephisto Maestro handheld at it's highest tournament level (40 moves in 3 hours). The 3 second level would be comparable to classic machines such as the Novag Constellation at tournament level.

Once you get to 5 seconds per move it's hitting around the 1700 ELO level. At around 30 seconds to me it is about the same strength as a Saitek Advanced Travel on tournament level in the middlegame, though the endgame is much stronger.

I guestimate the full Tournament Level 6 is around the mid to high 2000s level, though we will have to wait until the SSDF has finished the necessary 100 plus games before we get a provisional rating. An extremely accurate one will come with time.

In the end, though, numerical playing strength doesn't tell the whole story here. Apart from my Nintendo Fritz, the Genius is the only actual machine (as opposed to engine software) that really does feel like playing a very strong human.

[Steve B]

If you still can't see any differences then instead of looking at the pieces, look at the vacant squares whilst changing the setting from 9 to 0 (which of course you can do with one button press as it just loops through the 9 settings). With full batteries and contrast 9, you will see the vacant squares darken noticeably in this scenario. With it on 0, the vacant squares assume the natural colour of the LCD board itself without the additive darkening hue of contrast 9.

Hi Jon
this actually worked
while i see no difference going from 0-9..i do see the contrast go lighter when 9 turns to 0

as i said the contrast is fine on its default setting but now i see at least some of the settings make a difference

thanks

No Longer Squinting Regards
Steve

[Monsieur Plastique]

Well I am really chuffed. I was feeling relatively good and reasonably alert today, so I decided to challenge the Millennium Genius to another hardcore 40 moves in 2 hour game (playing level was set to Tournament 6). The machine was set to play at full strength with pondering on (ECO off). I played within my clock allowance and of course there were no take backs allowed. So this was a serious tournament game under tournament conditions.

Inspired by Klute's positional blitz victory over his machine, I decided to employ the just-discussed Bird's Defense as black in a classical time control Ruy Lopez. After a tough and very enjoyable positional fight I am proud to say that I finally defeated the pesky little machine in what ended up being a King and pawn endgame which should have been a draw but for an inaccuracy by Genius on move 30. Mind you, subsequent analysis by HIARCS indicated that I made one inaccurate move as well (move 33), but the correct reply was obviously beyond the search horizon of Genius (which thanks to hash tables was about 14 plies excluding extensions at this point).

Still, I am really proud of this nonetheless. The machine has defeated me twice over the last week - the first time quite convincingly, the second time it outplayed me from a slightly advantageous endgame position. This time the tables were turned. This is actually my first ever victory in a serious tournament game against a chess playing entity that genuinely exceeds 2000 ELO in playing strength.

As Larry Kaufmann said all those years ago, even class "B" players (I feel that I am probably high class B strength) can defeat the strongest Mephisto occasionally. I am not going to pretend for one moment I could beat this thing in a match and I am not going to pretend that I am a 2100 ELO chess player. But still, I am sure we have all had proud moments when we defeated our plastic nemesis fair and square and this was one of those (probably rare!) times.

This machine has rapidly become my favourite in all my collection. Yes, it is very plasticky but it is the closest I am ever going to get to playing a really strong human. I am even contemplating saving up for a third machine since I can see this is going to get a lot of use over the years, especially with it's wide opening book and transposition capabilities.

[Event "40 moves in 2 hours"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.11.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Millennium Genius"]
[Black "Parle, Jonathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C61"]
[PlyCount "126"]

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 e5 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nxd4 exd4 5. O-O Bc5 6. d3 Ne7 7. Bg5 O-O 8.
Bc4 d6 9. Nd2 Be6 10. Nb3 Bb6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. a4 a6 13. Qg4 Qd7 14. Qh3 Rf7
15. f3 Raf8 16. a5 Ba7 17. Rf2 Ng6 18. Raf1 h6 19. Bc1 Nf4 20. Qg4 e5 21. Bxf4
Qxg4 22. fxg4 Rxf4 23. Rxf4 Rxf4 24. Rxf4 exf4 25. Kf2 g5 26. g3 fxg3+ 27. Kxg3
Kf7 28. h4 Bc5 29. Nxc5 dxc5 30. h5 Ke6 31. Kf2 b6 32. axb6 cxb6 33. Kf3 Ke5
34. c3 b5 35. cxd4+ Kxd4 36. b3 a5 37. Ke2 a4 38. bxa4 bxa4 39. Kd2 c4 40. dxc4
Kxc4 41. e5 Kd5 42. Kc3 Kxe5 43. Kb4 Kf4 44. Kxa4 Kxg4 45. Kb3 Kxh5 46. Kc3 Kg4
47. Kd2 Kf3 48. Ke1 Kg2 49. Kd2 h5 50. Ke3 h4 51. Ke4 g4 52. Kf4 g3 53. Kg5 h3
54. Kf4 h2 55. Ke3 h1=Q 56. Ke2 Qc1 57. Kd3 Kf2 58. Ke4 g2 59. Ke5 Qc4 60. Kf5
g1=Q 61. Kf6 Qgg8 62. Kf5 Qce6+ 63. Kf4 Qg3# 0-1



Revenge of the Bird Brain Regards

[Steve B]

Still, I am really proud of this nonetheless.

You should be
Well Done Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

As a connoisseur of Schachcomputer packaging materials, I heartily concur about the absolute necessity to keep everything - and I mean everything - as originally supplied - and to try to keep it all as minty as possible.

I've kept my original ChessGenius batteries unused and mint... I will keep any eye on them as the years pass by.

It's perhaps best to keep them away from the transparent plastic tray in case they eventually leak though.

I also never use mint manuals - I simply have PDF copies of manuals for particular machines when I need to refer to them.

Original Schachcomputer plastic bags, cardboard inserts and vacuum-formed trays are worth...

...their weight in gold Regards

continuing with my meaningless and immaterial observations
Speaking about the plastic trays that hold the pieces and batteries ...i notice two empty pockets for what looks like the adapter and the different connections
my guess is that Millennium originally planned to ship the unit with the adapter but wanted to keep the price to under 100 euro so they scrapped the idea

Retro Grade Analysis Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

With the MCG released for over a month now, reports are coming in from all over..with ratings for the MCG as high as 2300 to as low as the mid-high 2100's
during these games the MCG has faced a vast array of opponents

but none as terrifying as this:



The Iconic Mephisto WunderMachine...

supposedly rated close to 2500 with Chess Genius 5

you can read about some of the WM's previous exploits here:
http://hiarcs.net/forums/viewtopic.php? ... dermachine


the WM will load the CG 2 Engine to even the chances somewhat



ill start off with a 3 game match and if the MCG can manage at least a draw i will expand the match to 6 games,if it can manage 1 pt in 6 ill expand it to a full 10 game match
1 minute avg.
each computer will open with
1.e4,1.d4,1.c4,1.Nf3 and 1.Nc3

i will do the e4 and 1 d4 Game first in the 3 game match
if the match expands to 6 games ill go with the the d4 and both c4 games
if the MCG can manage to extend the match to 10 ill do the N openings

XXX Hardcore Collecting Regards
Steve

Slumbering in its Underground Bunker for decades ,the Mephisto WunderMachine is awakened by the clarion call emanating from the highest hill tops and the lowest valleys...

Release The Kraken!


We begin the highly anticipated match between Father and Son...
MCG wins the coin toss and elects to play with the White Pieces

In the First game the WM was Out Of Book at move 10 ....the MCG at move 11
MCG loses its way early on at move 23 Moving its Q away from the protection of its K
WM at move 26 smashes open the the boy genius's K side and with the WQ out of play it begins an irresistible full scale Kside attack



[Event-Oedipus Complex Match]
[Site-Underground Bunkers]
[Date "2015.11.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "MCG"]
[Black "WunderMachine"]
[Time Control 1 Min./Avg.]
[Result "0-1*"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O Qd6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 Bd7
8.Be3 Qg6 9.Nd2 O-O-O 10.Qe2 f5 11.Bf4 fxe4 12.Qxe4 Qf7 13.Be5 Bc5 14.a4
Rf8 15.Qe2 Nf6 16.N4b3 Ba7 17.Bd4 Bxd4 18.Nxd4 Nd5 19.N2f3 Nf4 20.Qe4 c5
21.Ne5 Qe8 22.Ndf3 Bc6 23.Qc4 Qh5 24.Qb3 Bd5 25.c4 Bxf3 26.Nxf3 Nxg2
27.Ra3 Nf4 28.Kh1 Rf5 29.Rg1 Nh3 30.Rg3 g5 31.Qc2 g4 32.Nd2 Re8 33.Rae3
Rxf2 34.Qc3 Qf7 35.Rg1 Nxg1 36.Kxg1 Rf8 37.Nf3 Rxf3 38.Rxf3 gxf3 0-1

FINAL POSITION
[fen]2k2r2/1pp2q1p/p7/2p5/P1P5/2Q2p2/1P5P/6K1 w - - 0 39[/fen]

WM announces a mate in 8 here
MCG is showing -19.23
as the MCG has no "Resign" feature ..i resigned for it

This Is Not Gonna Be Pretty Regards
Steve