HIARCS Chess Forums

Larry · Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:21 am Post subject: Fidelity Elegance

The best word to describe this chess computer is...well...elegant!
It has a wide opening book, unlike the earlier voice champion and '9'
level machines which the company had mistakenly put in a deep but
narrow book. It seems to me that the Elegance has as an opening book
the CB16 module which was available as an overpriced option some other
models. On startup you can repeatedly press <RV> to scroll through about
a half dozen or so white first moves. Same for black's first move.
On the minus side, good old Fidelity used substandard reed switches
for the auto sensory squares, which invariably broke down. Once these
are replaced, and the junk pieces are substituted, you have a really nice
computer. It's rating of about 1780elo belies it's playing strength versus
humans on it's short time controls. It's a hard nut to crack.
After some six or so years following chess comps on ebay, I'm noticing
the Elegance is actually borderline rare, and good examples are just plain
rare. I bought mine new in late 1984, and had to sell the near new Super
Connie to pay for it. I was pleased with it until the squares started going
dead. I got sick of replacing reed switches and stuck the thing up in the
wardrobe, where it sat for over two decades. I finally got it back down
and replaced 'all' the reed switches. Now it works like a dream.
Here it is:

If you have the option of buying a good one, take it up. A great,
user friendly chess computer if ever there was one.
nice day all...
Larry
_________________
Growth is the problem, not the solution.

Jose · Member Joined: 08 Aug 2007 Posts: 187 Location: Germany

Yes, you are right. It looks great, like the most wooden Fidelitys.
I never owned one like that. For me it is very small and have no display...
I think the smallest of Fidelitys wooden Armada Very Happy

Best José

Larry · Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:37 pm Post subject:

Christian · Member Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 34

There is good news for the owners of non-working Elegance computers.
Mine didn´t work properly so I sent it to UK for repair.
It came back to me with a completely new PCB running at 8MHz !!!
It plays a hell of a game now, and the new electronics should easily outlast me. I really recommend this upgrade.

http://www.great-game-machine.com/site-fidelity-uk.htm

Regards,

Christian

Christian · Member Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 34

Forgot to mention that you can have either CB9 or CB16 integrated on the PCB.

Steve B · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 11:58 am Post subject:

Christian · Member Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 34

Hello Steve,

For several reasons I am looking forward to my annual trip to Paris.
As for playing strength the Elegance in this tuned version should be a little bit stronger than the Mephisto Polgar.
So the Brute Force will be well out of reach...we will see.
But the point I wanted to make is simply that there is hope for non working machines.
There are still people around who know how this old stuff works...

Kind regards

Christian

Steve B · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:29 pm Post subject:

ricard60 · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 8:15 pm Post subject:

Since i can not cross the atlantic ocean and go to Paris; is there anyway to watch this tournament online?

Internet regards
Ricardo

Steve B · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 8:25 pm Post subject:

Larry · Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:01 pm Post subject:

Larry · Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 8:56 am Post subject:

Christian · Member Joined: 17 Oct 2007 Posts: 34

ricard60 · Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 6:40 pm Post subject:

Steve B · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:19 pm Post subject: