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
