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Steve B

The Holy Grail of chess computer collecting
From the time they are knee high to a grasshopper.. Chess Computer Collector's the world over.. learn of the mythical "Bridge" linking the transition from dedicated chess computers to the Rise of the PC engines
Released in 1993 and then upgraded in 1996 ..the Wunder Machine is a marriage between the strongest PC hardware of the day ,Richard Langs "Chess Genius" Engine and Mephisto's Auto-Sensory Munchen board
the original WM ran on a 486 at 66 Mhz with Lang's Chess Genius 2
in 1996 Mephisto updated the WM equipping it with a Pentium III AT 866 Mhz and added Chess Genius 5
Another change in the second version was Mephisto made it an all wood housing while the first WM had no wood around the pullout PC drawer
More Here:

http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Mephisto_Wundermaschine

http://www.schachcomputer.at/rarwundermaschine.htm

i thank Mythbuster for assisting me in acquiring the 1996 WM and for his expert translation ability acting as a "Bridge" in his own right between the seller and myself

I also owe a deep sense of gratitude to CM another Human Bridge combining his dual expertise in dedicated computers and Pc hardware who was able to repair the WM which suffered some damage during its Atlantic Crossing

The PIII WM with Chess Genius 5 has an estimated rating of 2500-2530
In the coming weeks i will be posting a 10 game match Vs. Resurrection Fruit 05 with an SSDF rating of 2395
i will follow that up with another match against Resurrection II-Rybka sporting an SSDF of 2632
several other matches against various high-end dedicated computers including the Tasc R40 may follow

For now though we have the very first published game of a WunderMachine on the net ...
I ..your humble correspondent..in an effort to test the WM .. choose to sit down and cross swords with Chess Genius 2 at 10 seconds per move CG2 was set for "Solid" play
i had white

The Mephisto Wunder Machine:

[Date "2011.11.17"]
[White "Steve B"]
[Black "Mephisto WunderMachine G2"]
[Time Control "10 Sec./Avg."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 O-O 6.Bd3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3
Nc6 9.Be3 Nd7 10.d5 Nce5 11.Qe2 e6 12.O-O Nxd3 13.Qxd3 Ne5 14.Qe2 Nd7
15.Qd3 Ne5 16.Qe2 Nd7 17.Qd3 1/2-1/2

FINAL POSITION

Bridge To Nowhere Regards
Steve

Steve B · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 8:27 pm Post subject:

The Match begins in Earnest(why o why cant they leave poor earnest alone already)

Same Conditions as the Rev-Hiarcs Vs Res II Rybka match
1 Minute per move..Colors reversing
i will force each computer to open once with
1.e4
1.d4
1.c4
1.Nf3
1.Nc3

WM will be set for "Solid" play and "Normal" Book

In The Game
WM has white first
Res-Fruit was out of book first at move 8 but played moves in WM's book through move 10
Oddly.. once out of book on move 11 the WM showed an eval Of -.87 ..not to mention it being down a B for a P
as the game progressed WM was able to create two connected passed center pawns which eventually Res had to stop by sacking a B
with material now even the game drifted into a draw

[Date "2011.11.18"]
[Round "1"]
[White "WunderMachine Genius 5"]
[Black "Resurrection I Fruit 2005"]
[Time Control "1 Min.Avg."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.cxd4 d6 7.Bc4 Nb6
8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.Ng5+ Kg8 10.e6 Qe8 11.d5 Ne5 12.f4 h6 13.fxe5 hxg5
14.exd6 exd6 15.Nc3 Be7 16.Qd3 Qh5 17.Be3 Bf6 18.g3 Rh6 19.Bxb6 axb6
20.Rc1 g4 21.Rc2 Bxc3+ 22.bxc3 Ra5 23.e7 Rf6 24.Re2 Bd7 25.c4 b5 26.c5
dxc5 27.Rf1 Rf3 28.Qe4 Ra8 29.d6 b4 30.Rxf3 gxf3 31.Qxb7 fxe2 32.Qxa8+
Kf7 33.e8=Q+ Bxe8 34.Qa7+ Ke6 35.Qe7+ Kd5 36.d7 Bxd7 37.Qxd7+ Kc4
38.Qxg7 Qxh2 39.Qe5 Qg1+ 40.Kxe2 Qd4 41.Qe6+ Qd5 42.Qe3 Kb5 43.Qd3+ Kc6
44.Qa6+ Kd7 45.Ke3 Qe6+ 46.Qxe6+ Kxe6 47.Ke4 c4 48.Kd4 c3 49.Kd3 Kd5
50.a4 bxa3ep 51.Kxc3 Ke4 52.Kb3 Kf3 53.Kxa3 Kxg3 1/2-1/2

1/2-1/2 Regards
Steve

Larry · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 1:55 am Post subject:

Well all this time I assumed the Wundermaschine was some sort of
modified unit. Congratulations are in order. These things must be rarer
than the high end EAG's. Pretty much all you need now is a Handroid,
and your collection is complete...oh, and a V8 I think.
Have fun testing it out against the Rev.
Larry
_________________
Growth is the problem, not the solution.

Mythbuster · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 9:06 am Post subject:

Hi Larry,
yes, they are really rare ... there were only six build ever ... and two of them were modified: This machine and the one which stand on the table of Richard Lang. So this is a 'one out of two' ... and it is in mint condition.

I am really glad that after some heavy trouble everything has com to a happy end. Sadly this machine was not constructed for any transport ... so it took some (electronic) damage on it's long way to NYC ... that was very sad ... and it took some weeks until Steve's friend had fixed the problems ... so after the long wait it was a great news to get the information that it now works perfectly ...

Steve, so with the Excalibur and with the Wonder Machine you have the both ends of the 'Mephisto greatest machines' in your collection ...

You should make some more photos and put them into our Wiki! There you could also publish some games of the machine.

Happy Ending Regards,
Sascha
_________________
Chess Computer Corner: The Community for old Chess Computers and PDA Chess. Please visit me at http://www.warnemuende.cc/forum/portal.php ...

IvenGO · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:30 am Post subject:

Steve, why Genius is set to "Solid" playing style? This leads to less interesting games and more draws I think... I always prefer "Agressive" settings to any of chess software.

Steve B · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:45 am Post subject:

In Game Two..
Res-Fruit 05 had White and was out of book first after move 7
We see Another Sicilian and once again we see Res-F05.. playing
on its own.. finding the next few moves in the WM's book
both computers were out of book at move 10
at this TC WM is searching a consistent 7 Ply full/19 selective
while the Res is hitting anywhere from 6/24 to 8/26
Res sacks a P to initiate an attack against the WM's K
the WM 0-0's right into the line of fire and is able to find
solid defensive moves to defend its position
while the Res tries to reorganize the attack WM goes P hunting and picks up 2 more P's,
however this allows the Res to win the exchange resulting in
an unusual R for N+3P's deficit
Res is able to win back a P restoring material equality and
another Draw by 3 Fold Rep is agreed upon

[Date "2011.11.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Res I Fruit 2005"]
[Black "WunderMachine Genius 5"]
[Time Control "1 Min./Avg."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be6
8.f4
Qc7 9.O-O Nbd7 10.Be3 Qc6 11.Na5 Qc7 12.f5 Bxf5 13.Rxf5 Qxa5
14.Rb1 Rc8
15.Kh1 Be7 16.g4 h6 17.Qd2 d5 18.exd5 Bb4 19.d6 b5 20.Rc1 Rc6
21.Bd3
Rxd6 22.Qg2 Bxc3 23.bxc3 O-O 24.g5 hxg5 25.Rxg5 Rc8 26.Rxg7+ Kf8
27.Rg1
Qxc3 28.Qg3 Ke8 29.Qh3 e4 30.Be2 Qxc2 31.R7g2 Qc3 32.Rg7 Nf8
33.R1g3
Rcc6 34.Rg1 Qa3 35.Re1 Qxa2 36.Bf4 Qe6 37.Qh8 Rd5 38.Bh6 Ke7
39.Rg3 Rc8
40.Bc1 Ng6 41.Qg7 Rg8 42.Qh6 Rh8 43.Qe3 Ke8 44.Bb2 Ne7
45.Qf4 Qf5 46.Qb8+ Rd8 47.Qb6 Nd7 48.Qe3 Rh4 49.Rd1 Qf4 50.Qg1
Qh6
51.Bc1 Qh8 52.Bg4 a5 53.Bg5 Rxg4 54.Rxg4 Qe5 55.Bh4 Rc8 56.Qg2
Nf6
57.Bxf6 Qxf6 58.Rf1 Qc6 59.Rxe4 Kf8 60.Qf3 Qd5 61.Rd1 Qc6 62.Rf1
Qd5
63.Rd1 Qc6 64.Rf1 1/2-1/2

FINAL POSITION

1-1 Regards
Steve

Steve B · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:06 pm Post subject:

Mike Watters · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:08 pm Post subject:

Brilliant to hear about the Wundermaschine Steve/Sascha. It's always been a bit of a mystery to me. Nice games, not that I understand them that well first time around even with the help of Pocket Fritz 4 (aka HIARCS) who has biggish evaluations in black's favour in both games. Lots of photos please.

Steve B · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:08 pm Post subject:

xchessg · Member Joined: 28 Jul 2011 Posts: 133

Steve,

What an extraordinary chess computer, this WM.

A Question: In the game notation you mark Res I (= The StrongArm 200 Mhz version), yet in your comments you consistently talk about Fruit/Rev (=The 500 Mhz Xscale version). I'm getting confused here...

Talking about Genius engine settings: In germany consensus seems to be that the "Risk" style with Contempt from +0.25 up to +0.75 and pawn settings at 70% value, piece settings at 80% gives the more interesting games.

Not quite sure myself. I tested a while with these settings against the manual's "active" with contempt at +0.25, and noted that at least there doesn't seem to be an noticecable increase or decrease of playing strenght. Nor in game style, but that's just a personal observation...

Congratulations on getting this beauty up and running again.

And keep those games comming!

Greetings

Xavier

Steve B · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:17 pm Post subject:

Steve B · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:28 pm Post subject:

Alain · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 2:51 pm Post subject:

Congratulations Steve !

and thank you for keeping the Collector's Corner active Smile

Best regards,
Alain

chessguru · Member Joined: 21 Feb 2011 Posts: 33

Hi Steve,

Congratulations. A great chess computer for a great collection. Wink

We thank you for this valuable information and we hope for further information...

Perhaps for the wiki... Very Happy

Best regards,
Micha

SirDave · Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 5:38 pm Post subject:

Fascinating stuff Steve. I'd like to hear more about the WM. I wasn't at all familiar with it. And congratulations- I know enough that this must have been a long sought-after endeavor!