World Championship Winning Computer Chess Software Program & Downloads for Chess Databases, Analysis and Play on PC, Mac, iPad and iPhone — Visit: Hiarcs.com
The second replacement MCGE turned up this morning and on testing it discovered a problem with the LED's on the chess board. When picking up the white Rook on H1 all the H file LED's are lit!!
If that wasn't enough there is something rattling around inside the chess board, maybe a lose screw. Aaaargh!
The second replacement MCGE turned up this morning and on testing it discovered a problem with the LED's on the chess board. When picking up the white Rook on H1 all the H file LED's are lit!!
If that wasn't enough there is something rattling around inside the chess board, maybe a lose screw. Aaaargh!
Not third time lucky Regards
Ray
That sounds like some damage occurred in shipping
at this point...you might want to take a quick drive to Germany and just pick up a working one once and for all
Steve B wrote:at this point...you might want to take a quick drive to Germany and just pick up a working one once and for all
European Union Regards
Steve
Cough! Just a short trip of 483 miles, about 9 hours driving and that's one way. Certainly would be nice to take this trip, but alas cannot undertake at this time, too many commitments. Then there is the thought of it going wrong again, it doen't bare thinking about.
You have to wonder about the build quality of these things of that's what is happening. I was considering getting one sent from Germany to Australia, but this makes me wonder if I would be better buying it locally (at an obscene price markup). If there is a problem, I would be able to resolve it better I think. Still, those DGT drivers and PGN app from topschach.de...
jupiter6 wrote:You have to wonder about the build quality of these things of that's what is happening....
I agree, and I believe Millennium will want to sort this out. As Steve suggested, the last one sent could have been damaged in transit, but the second one with split wood varnished over was not good.
My original MCGE looks great and is now strangely behaving itself, no piece recognition problems. I'm wondering if it was some form of radio interference upsetting it. This could explain the apparent randomness of it. Fingers crossed, it has not gone wrong for ages.
My gut feeling is to keep this unit and send the other one back, I don't know that I want to risk yet another damaged/faulty unit!
I could have purchased one from the London Chess & Bridge shop but there price is ridiculous at £800, that's £300 more than from Schach Niggemann.
Still waiting for a reply from Millennium Regards
Ray
Here is the final position:
[fen]8/7p/7P/8/6p1/6n1/5k1K/5n2 w - - 4 57[/fen]
In this game they played the QGA, Classical, Flohr variation. There entailed many piece exchanges and the game soon reached the middle game stage with a pretty much even rating, perhaps White in a slightly better position.
Here is the game at move 23 with White to move:
[fen]4k3/1q3ppp/p3pn2/np6/2P5/1B2PN2/P4PPP/2Q3K1 w - - 1 23[/fen]
The following moves were played:
23. PxP NxB
24. PxP?? Why did it not take the Knight on b3?
24. ... Nxc1
Now Black's Knight on c1 is threatening to take the Pawn on a2 and is in a far better position. I think the Magellan put too much evaluation on getting its Pawn on b7 which was never going to queen.
Then, if that blunder wasn't enough, here is another blunder from the Magellan at move 27:
[fen]1n2k3/1P3ppp/4p3/4N3/8/4P3/P4PPP/2n3K1 w - - 3 27[/fen]
Here White seemed to give up and moved NxP?? Giving up a Knight to a Pawn. It was now just a matter of time before the MCGE finished the Magellan off!
One interesting tidbit is that on move 48 the MCGE announced mate in 12:
[fen]8/7p/7P/6p1/3n2n1/3k4/8/4K3 w - - 4 49[/fen]
Then after White moved it announced mate in 13:
[fen]8/7p/7P/6p1/3n2n1/8/3k4/5K2 w - - 6 50[/fen]
Finally it settled on mate in 7 on move 50.... Ke2 and the Magellan then also saw it!
[fen]8/7p/7P/6p1/3n2n1/8/3k2K1/8 w - - 7 50[/fen]
Another win for the MCGE, which is no surprise really. It is rather steam rolling over the Magellan, but does however, have a loss and a draw against this machine. It's not infallible despite its speed advantage, something which has been mentioned before in this forum.
Millennium sent me an e-mail saying they are going to test another unit and send to me! I have replied asking them not to at this time but I may be too late. At this rate I shall be spending more time unpacking and packing MCGE's then actually using one! Joking asside, they are paying for the postage, and the last unit could have been damaged in transit, so unfair to count that one as bad quality control.
Strangely, my original machine is still working faultlessly!?
So onto game 8:
Here the Magellan makes a comeback after a row of losses.
They opened with the Caro-Kann, Closed(Breyer) variation.
Final position
[fen]5b2/7k/p7/6p1/1K6/2P3n1/qP3r2/8 w - - 2 56[/fen]
No blunders in this game, but this move by the MCGE caught my attention:
[fen]rnbq1rk1/pp1nppbp/2p3p1/3pP3/3P4/2N2N2/PPP1QPPP/R1B1KB1R w KQ - 1 8[/fen]
Here the MCGE(White) played 8. Pe6?! It probably would have been better to develop a piece such as the Bishop on c1.
A little later in the game at after Black's 17th move we have this strange position for the MCGE as white:
[fen]r4r1k/pp4bp/2p2np1/3qn3/3p4/8/PPPQBPPP/R1BN1RK1 w - - 2 18[/fen]
It looks almost as if White has not moved, its pieces are just not developed!
I would have to say the MCGE was clueless in this game.
Black however, has control of the centre and looks in a far better position.
The Magellan deserved to win this game.
That brings the score to 5.5 - 2.5 to the MCGE Regards
Ray
paulwise3 wrote:Thanx for these games Ray!
Since a few months I am also a happy owner of the Magellan, and it is one of my favorites!
Tournament regards,
Paul
I am enjoying this match for two reasons. One, despite the big difference in hardware, it shows that the Magellan is still very good. Secondly, it is also showing that the faster hardware has made a large improvement on the ChessGenius engine.
It makes me wonder how well the Magellan might peform if it were running at 300MHz instead of 20MHz. Maybe it would scale up well, or maybe not; Either way, it is a nice machine and I am not surprised that you like it.
I have just completed game 9 and will publish it soon. The final game in this match is underway and is turning out to be a real battle!
This is the longest game so far at 83 moves, the second longest at 80 was played in the second game of the match. They opened with the Petrov, Cozio(Lasker) Attack:
Final position:
[fen]8/8/8/2k5/K7/8/q7/8 w - - 8 84[/fen]
At move 78 the MCGE announced mate in 7 with its move 78. .... f1=R, but it ended before then!
[fen]2K5/4k3/5q2/8/8/8/5p2/2R5 w - - 5 78[/fen]
There was one blunder(according to Stockfish) by White at move 52:
[fen]8/5pk1/2B4p/3R2p1/3P4/7r/3K4/2b5 w - - 1 52[/fen]
Here the Magellan played 52. KxB.
Stockfish was able to look 53 ply ahead and see that this move was a loss for White! I think this was a blunder through lack of processing power, so not fair to mark the Magellan down on this!
A tough battle, but the MCGE out-calculated the Magellan and from the following position at move 67 showed that it was not worried about Whites Rook with its Pawns marching up the board!
[fen]3K4/8/6k1/8/5p2/6pp/8/7R w - - 0 67[/fen]
Playing 40/2hrs is a tough slog you are doing well there.
To not lose patience nowadays I typically stick to 60/30 (30 seconds per move) and I have to play two games simultaneously to keep my mind on the games.
Scally wrote:
I’ve always wanted this Engine, but it seems to be an expensive module, there’s one on eBay at the moment for the best part of £600 incl postage.
Cheers,
Al.
Ouch! That is expensive. It's a good module, but that seems a little steep especially when you can get an MCGE for around £500.
I paid something like £700 for the Magellan module in an Exclusive housing, but this was a good 15 years ago.