PEWATRONIC New Grandmaster

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Sargon1972
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Post by Sargon1972 »

Hello Mike,

They also say that further update,s will come with more engines
But with ones is the question
They can for example pick up the MM IV and V on Schroder website
Also on Meca is a new mess emulator with several new programs as the V11

Kr,Hans
Hello
I am from Netherlands and many years involved with computerchess
It,s a way of life i suppose :p

Kr,Hans
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Bryan Whitby
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Post by Bryan Whitby »

Nice video of the Grandmaster here.
http://youtu.be/zCauyhPkxnA
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Dave C
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Bigger is Better

Post by Dave C »

I really like the new Grandmaster except I wish it had a larger screen. At only 2.5 inches it is just too small for my tired eyes. A 5 inch screen would fit on the board perfectly and would allow for more room to display game info during play.
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Bryan Whitby
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Post by Bryan Whitby »

Dave

What you want is one of these that I built a few years ago 😀

http://www.schachcomputer.info/gallery/ ... userid=701

Bryan
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Dave C
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Post by Dave C »

Chessmaster Ireland wrote:Dave

What you want is one of these that I built a few years ago 😀
Bryan,

Now thats what I'm talking about! Big screen and a beautiful board. Well done. Where do I place my order? :lol:

Dave
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Bryan Whitby
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Post by Bryan Whitby »

Nice photo on Schachcomputer.info of the Pewtronic Grandmaster sitting next to the Revelation.

Image
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Dave C
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Post by Dave C »

Chessmaster Ireland wrote:Nice photo on Schachcomputer.info of the Pewtronic Grandmaster sitting next to the Revelation.

Image
Has anyone purchased one of the new Pewatronics Grandmasters chess computers? From the pictures it appears to be a good size with nice wood and chessmen. It would be interesting to hear an owners thoughts on this new dedicated unit.

Curious....regards,
Dave
franco88
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Pewatronic Grandmaster

Post by franco88 »

Hi Dave,
Yes, I have the new Pewatronics GM. It is a wonderful computer. It has squares slightly smaller than the Mephisto Exclusive board. The pieces are also just slightly smaller, but well balanced and a joy to play with. The program is quite strong and at full strength goes up to 64 !! ply. So it is not fooled by minor tactics. You can decrease the time to one second a move and the ply down to one. At intermediate levels it will be plenty tough for most chess players. It seems to know a wide variety of opening replies. Attention- there is no replay feature. If you want to replay a game, you must first take back each move while writing it down, and then manually enter the moves yourself using the monitor mode to have the computer remember these. The computer will remember the last position if you turn off the machine. As far as I know there is no easy way to print out a position or game score to a computer. I think the style is interesting. aggressive at times, and positional at times. at intermediate levels will not usually play waiting moves, and in the endgame he understands opposition and other basic tactics. I am very pleased with this computer. Note- when the computer came to me in California it only had the round European pegs adapter and not an adapter like the Rev II. I had to hunt around for the USA two prong adapter. I wrote Peter asking him to include this for USA buyers lest they have a computer sitting there at home until they find the proper adapter. Hope this helps. My recommendation is to get this if you can afford it. It is fun and has improved my play.
PATB
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Post by PATB »

Franco, thank you for the feedback. I am very interested in the Pewatronic because of its size. I played with stockfish 7 on handicap mode before (pico chess) and I found the program very good..does not blunder for no reason like the old programs at handicap mode.

How hard is it to identify the piece to move and its destination with the LEDs? I watched the video and found the LEDs difficult to read, especially when making captures, but I do not know if this is just the video. I am thinking that for the computer moves, the user simply has to rely on the small display?
franco88
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Post by franco88 »

Hello,
Thank you for the reply.
My feedback was provided as a general and basic evaluation of one user's experiences. It is like your package finally arrives, you unpack the board, you set up the pieces and you play a nice game against Pewatronics. What is this experience like in the opinion of one user? I felt that I wanted to share this experience with others because not too much had been written on the user experience, and I feel this is a very nicely made and elegant wood computer that other users might wish to purchase in the future. Maybe others opinions will differ here. It is by no means exhaustive, and I did not talk about such things as updating the software or interfacing with your PC. I am not a technophile so those questions are better left to those with more technical experience than me which is practically anyone else on Hiarcs.
The manual is only three pages long so a lot of things like position set up will be discovered through trial and error. Position set up can be implemented through use of the touch screen commands and placement of the pieces on the board.
As far as the screen goes, I would say for some users it may just be too small for them to enjoy a comfortable game.
Regarding your question of the leds, they are bright and easily seen in both daylight and nighttime in my opinion. Also, the screen is small for some users, but that being said, for myself the contrast used for the numerals and figures with the background is more than adequate to easily read the display. Peter usually replies to buyers emails within a day, so he answered my questions in a timely manner. Also, I believe that in the future other improvements to the program may be added via the updates.
PATB
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Post by PATB »

I watched the video and it appears the evaluation score is always displayed, unless configuring the system. I sent an email to Pewatronic to confirm.

Always seeing the evaluation score will not be ideal when playing against the computer, especially when losing! I guess I can always cover it up with a piece of paper :wink:
franco88
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Post by franco88 »

The Pewatronics GM has now incorporated 'MadChess" with ELO 800-2300 as an alternative engine to Stockfish. I emailed Peter since I have several questions about this new engine. It was very easy to update my GM wirelessly via my WiFi, and I was able to choose MadChess and start playing. If Peter is able to respond to my questions about Madchess I may share this with Hiarcs if there is any interest.
PATB
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Post by PATB »

PATB wrote:I watched the video and it appears the evaluation score is always displayed, unless configuring the system. I sent an email to Pewatronic to confirm.

Always seeing the evaluation score will not be ideal when playing against the computer, especially when losing! I guess I can always cover it up with a piece of paper :wink:
With the position view, the evaluation is not shown, which is a nice feature.
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Dave C
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Re: Pewatronic Grandmaster

Post by Dave C »

franco88 wrote:Hi Dave,
Yes, I have the new Pewatronics GM. It is a wonderful computer. It has squares slightly smaller than the Mephisto Exclusive board. The pieces are also just slightly smaller, but well balanced and a joy to play with. The program is quite strong and at full strength goes up to 64 !! ply. So it is not fooled by minor tactics. You can decrease the time to one second a move and the ply down to one. At intermediate levels it will be plenty tough for most chess players. It seems to know a wide variety of opening replies. Attention- there is no replay feature. If you want to replay a game, you must first take back each move while writing it down, and then manually enter the moves yourself using the monitor mode to have the computer remember these. The computer will remember the last position if you turn off the machine. As far as I know there is no easy way to print out a position or game score to a computer. I think the style is interesting. aggressive at times, and positional at times. at intermediate levels will not usually play waiting moves, and in the endgame he understands opposition and other basic tactics. I am very pleased with this computer. Note- when the computer came to me in California it only had the round European pegs adapter and not an adapter like the Rev II. I had to hunt around for the USA two prong adapter. I wrote Peter asking him to include this for USA buyers lest they have a computer sitting there at home until they find the proper adapter. Hope this helps. My recommendation is to get this if you can afford it. It is fun and has improved my play.
Hi Franco
Thank you for the excellent summary of your experience with the new Pewatronics. Sounds like a very impressive dedicated machine. It seems that Pewatronics is working to upgrade and improve the software system they have created. Unfortunately, the small size of the screen is a problem for me.

Bigger is better, regards,
Dave
southernlights
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Post by southernlights »

I'm trying to study chess to move beyond a rank novice. As I do programming all day, the last thing I want to do is play chess on a computer screen in the evenings. As such, I'm looking for a nice computer with real wooden pieces to continue my learning.

Is there any more feedback on this board now that it has been out a while? In particular, I'm looking for feedback on the engines and if they can be decreased in strength substantially for a beginner. Also if it has any kind of coaching/training modes to help new players avoid mistakes or practice positions easily. Any other feedback also appreciated.

Finally, would I be better off getting a DGT board with DGT Pi instead of this setup? Price would be getting close to each other once you get nice DGT board, pieces, and the Pi.
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