Tje Comps We Love the Most...

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Fernando
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Tje Comps We Love the Most...

Post by Fernando »

Everyone, specially if he have several comps, has one or two embedded in hi heart for any reason.
Which is yours?

In my case the first in my list of loved one is Chess Champion Challenger by Fidelity. It was the first I have that played real chess instead of a preposterous mimick of the real game as the one given by CC/, CC8, etc. Champion plays a decently strong game, you must play it with care to get the point and even so sometimes he surprise you with something.
My second loved one is a lot more contemporary contrivance, Alexandra by Excalibur. It is a nifty well done plastic thing of adequate size to put it over my overcrowded desk, pieces are well done and the game is more than decent at high levels of time.
The third place I give to superconnie, which play a very interesting game and besides that I consider it to be beautifully made.

Fern
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Post by Steve B »

Well every so often a question is asked like this
and my answer is always different
:P

Today...if i had to choose only three:
Fidelity Elite Premiere-fist computer to have two engines in a beautiful wooden board
Mephisto Wunder Machine-the bridge between the dedicated computer and the inevitable onslaught of the PC engine
Tasc R40(V2.5)-SB30-Only death will part me from those plush red velvet pouches

Fickled Regards

Steve
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Fernando
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Post by Fernando »

Steve B wrote:Well every so often a question is asked like this
and my answer is always different
:P

Today...if i had to choose only three:
Fidelity Elite Premiere-fist computer to have two engines in a beautiful wooden board
Mephisto Wunder Machine-the bridge between the dedicated computer and the inevitable onslaught of the PC engine
Tasc R40(V2.5)-SB30-Only death will part me from those plush red velvet pouches

Fickled Regards

Steve
Only death?
Beware Steve...i still have in my payroll those nasty Serbians...

Fern
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Post by Mentat »

It used to be the Fidelity Excellence, then the Super Conny, and some others. More details in the next post as I am currently making designs based on Fern's plan how to do away with Steve B and make the biggest chess computer heist in history... :)

Dj.
Last edited by Mentat on Sun Mar 01, 2015 5:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Mentat »

Fernando wrote:
Steve B wrote:Well every so often a question is asked like this
and my answer is always different
:P

Today...if i had to choose only three:
Fidelity Elite Premiere-fist computer to have two engines in a beautiful wooden board
Mephisto Wunder Machine-the bridge between the dedicated computer and the inevitable onslaught of the PC engine
Tasc R40(V2.5)-SB30-Only death will part me from those plush red velvet pouches

Fickled Regards

Steve
Only death?
Beware Steve...i still have in my payroll those nasty Serbians...

Fern

Yep, those nasty Serbians :)) And when I do it, I do it for Fernando, not for the money. Fern said that I should abscond with only the wooden boards and forget the plasticky ones

BTW, it was the Supper Conny for me too. And, later on, the Super Expert C. Right now, with only a handful of boards it is the Mephisto Milano (I like its game), and I have to say that I also like the Tandy RS 1900L, which is a lot of fun, making comments that cleverly relate to the current position and can be heard crystal clear. It's not a patzer either --- I have to make sure not to overlook a threat. 8) 8)
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Post by Reinfeld »

You want a rival who's just a little stronger - in that zone where it's more maddening than depressing. When I was a child (in college), I thought as a child. So Fidelity Mini Chess Challenger was my first enemy. And after a while, eehhh not much fun. Too small, too weak, too annoying to use.

Excellence ca 1987 was my first love. Later, Designer 2000. I picked up Super Connie much, much later - I didn't know it existed back then. I think it would have been my #1 fave had I known. Agree with Fern - it's beautiful. Something about Super Connie reminds me of Max Headroom. I wish the knights were better. I love the way it plays.

And now...? The board I pull most often is Obsidian. That's a sweet piece of work. Strong but not too strong, pleasantly unsound, big buttons, cool housing, nice pieces - just the right mix of portability, strength and class.

- R.
"You have, let us say, a promising politician, a rising artist that you wish to destroy. Dagger or bomb are archaic and unreliable - but teach him, inoculate him with chess."
– H.G. Wells
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Post by Mentat »

Reinfeld wrote:You want a rival who's just a little stronger - in that zone where it's more maddening than depressing. When I was a child (in college), I thought as a child. So Fidelity Mini Chess Challenger was my first enemy. And after a while, eehhh not much fun. Too small, too weak, too annoying to use.

Excellence ca 1987 was my first love. Later, Designer 2000. I picked up Super Connie much, much later - I didn't know it existed back then. I think it would have been my #1 fave had I known. Agree with Fern - it's beautiful. Something about Super Connie reminds me of Max Headroom. I wish the knights were better. I love the way it plays.

And now...? The board I pull most often is Obsidian. That's a sweet piece of work. Strong but not too strong, pleasantly unsound, big buttons, cool housing, nice pieces - just the right mix of portability, strength and class.

- R.
Nice reply:). And poetic in places, so Fern may have been right when he said that most of us here are a bunch of lost souls, walking and talking in a limbo. Anyway, I loved that bit when you compared the SC to Max Headroom (whom I have almost forgotten, but adored the show back in the 80's). Anyway, the Super Conny (Connie) used to be a fave, but then I started winning almost every game against it, almost at will, and sold it, just like that, not thinking about the shape of things to come. Extremely stupid, but at that time I already had a very fast PC with Mchess Pro 3.5 or so... Nowadays when I wish a tough tussle I pull out my Centurion and set the game at 5 2 Bronstein clock. And then it's tough, but I can win more than I lose, and find pleasure in it. By the way, I just remembered that I'd sold a Kasparov Blitz, a great and shiny board, on the spur of a moment, when I beat it twice in a row by 10-0 at blitz.

lAnyway, not a day passes without a quick game with one of them. They are, simply put, my friends and each has his/her own little traits and particularities. Even more interesting are my images and ideas about their programmers -- how well they played chess, what were their weak spots and how these faults can be traced in the program.

Lost souls, yes. But luckily the shores are in sight, and near.

Dj.
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Post by Fernando »

Almost every game won against Super Connie?
Well, the you are lot stronger than me. I am happy when I won almost every game to Chess Challenger 7....
I am detecting, so late in my life, my weaknesses.
Yesterday I draw Chester Challenger after having an advantage of a rook for bishop and position.
And Saturday I draw a game against Alexandra where I was 5 pawns ahead, in pawns and pieces, if not morel. I left my self to be checked infinitely..

ENDINGS ARE MY PROBLEM.

I do not know a thing and in fact it bores me too much to learna thing.

King opposition? what is that?
But, what a hell. I get fun the same.
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Post by Mentat »

Fernando wrote:Almost every game won against Super Connie?
Well, the you are lot stronger than me. I am happy when I won almost every game to Chess Challenger 7....
I am detecting, so late in my life, my weaknesses.
Yesterday I draw Chester Challenger after having an advantage of a rook for bishop and position.
And Saturday I draw a game against Alexandra where I was 5 pawns ahead, in pawns and pieces, if not morel. I left my self to be checked infinitely..

ENDINGS ARE MY PROBLEM.

I do not know a thing and in fact it bores me too much to learna thing.

King opposition? what is that?
But, what a hell. I get fun the same.

Hi Fern,

but I already told you that I like playing even weaker machines, the King Arthur, for example. As long as I play I enjoy the game, except when the machine is a complete idiot. I wouldn't be able to play those rated 800-1100... Nowadays I play the RadioShack 1900L, a funny talking computer with Ephraim Kishon's voice, that is a slow version of the Excellence (@2mhz only). It should be about 1700-1730 or so. Still I find it competitive enough and pretend to be playing a GM, and attempt my best strategy in the make-believe game :) And who cares if I win or lose. The games come as a sorely needed breath of fresh air in between my different, pretty demanding tasks. And I rest my weary eyes while I play, which is very important.

Oh, another thing: yes, the endgame is the most difficult part of chess. And it requires studying. I spent hours and hours as a boy of 15-16, going through Fine's Endgames and now it sort of pays off. Still I am merely a candidate master, not more, so I am not all that better. I just "wasted" much more time on chess than you. But then who's the judge of 'wasted time'?

A little position for you (you should solve when you have the time :): White King on f1, White Bishop on f3, White Pawns: g2, h2. Black King on g5, Black Bishop f5. Black to move manages a draw. What would you play? This position is quite tough on any of the Morsch computers, easy for the advanced Fidelities and Novags. Have no idea how the Excaliburs fare.

Getting late at night here. Thanks for the chat.

Dj.
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Post by Fernando »

My first impression after one minute or less of "thinking" is black bishop to h3.
No patience to see every variation, but if pawn by bishop. then King goes to h4 and then no way to win for white I believe.

If I am am wrong remember how bad Am I to this phase of the game.

Fern
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Post by mclane »

I still love much the Mephisto I and Mephisto II and Mephisto III machines. Or the ESB versions of these machines.

Maybe because I have a faible for Thomas nitsche / Elmar Henne and their programs.

Goethe would have liked it.
What seems like a fairy tale today may be reality tomorrow.
Here we have a fairy tale of the day after tomorrow....
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Post by Mentat »

mclane wrote:I still love much the Mephisto I and Mephisto II and Mephisto III machines. Or the ESB versions of these machines.

Maybe because I have a faible for Thomas nitsche / Elmar Henne and their programs.

Goethe would have liked it.
Thorsten,

I've never had any of these, but i have tried playing against the ESB Glasgow using the simulator on the PC. And I was amazed -- calculating only 5-6 kns it manages to play great chess!
I forgot to tell you that I also like Philip Jose Farmer's novels :)

Dj.
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Post by mclane »

Try to get one of those 8bit machines, they are small. Don't waste much energy, and they play good chess.
Of course the 16 bit machine is faster. But the much slower 8 bit is even more impressive. It computes 1-3 NPS. You can watch it build main line and evaluation by computing 20 to 40 nodes !!!! This is really Artificial Intelligence. No wonder success salesmen like ossi weiner never liked Mephisto III.

Yes. We both like farmer.

I met Thomas nitsche on championships and he is really a nice guy.


In the moment I am working on chess tiger. Not on new stuff but on the old dos program. I participated with chess system tal at the Paris championship.
From dortmund I took my little Peugeot 205 xrd diesel and drove to my friend Peter Schreiner. We took him and the mchess machine into the car and continued driving to Paris.
So we had 2 persons, 2 pcs with screens for the hotel room and the original championship pcs with us. My friend Peter had a broken leg, so arriving in Paris I had to carry all our stuff into the hotel room while he remained into the car. Then I helped him and there we were. The hotel room next to us was used by Christophe Theron with chess tiger. That's where Christophe and i met.
We worked on chess tiger after the championship because I thought there is something "interesting" in tiger. Although it did not do well in Paris I had the feeling that it would just be a matter of tuning the engine.
And so we tried out several things. After a while tiger grew stronger and stronger and we decided to participate with tiger in the well known paderborn tournament at the university of paderborn that is connected with the Siemens/ nixdorf museum where Konrad amuse developed the german computer.
Today I am testing THIS old dos engine, that's maybe 17 years backwards.
Maybe I let it play versus the iPad chess tiger to see how much progress was done in the last 17 years.
What seems like a fairy tale today may be reality tomorrow.
Here we have a fairy tale of the day after tomorrow....
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Post by mclane »

when we participated with chess tiger at the paderborn tournament,
it was very cool to watch the opponents watch on the screen of tiger.
because tiger was (at that time) computing very deep.
much deeper then the opponent programs.

e.g. in the game against shredder with stefan meyer kahlen...

shredder was known to compute deep in those days.

in the game versus tiger stefan looked onto the screen and could not understand how tiger came 2-3 plys / searches deeper.
he was also astonished about the minimal evaluation differences each main line had. often only 0.01 pawns difference to the main line before.

stefan became very nervous.

it was 1998 and it was the first appearence of chess tiger after paris in a greater public. in 1997 chess tiger, of course a weaker version, participated in paris,
http://www.grappa.univ-lille3.fr/icga/t ... t.php?id=5
and was 27th from 34 participating programs.



https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/IPCCC+1998

tiger made 3rd.
the only loss was against gandalf in a hidden king attack gandalf is known for.

IMO a very big jump if you compare the tiger version from 1997 with the tiger version 1998.

btw. here you can see the pictures from the tournament:
http://www.thorstenczub.de/Paderborn.html
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Post by spacious_mind »

Thorsten:

Very nice, it is great that you are sharing some history and your experience.

Coincidentally, I bought Virtual Chess 2 only the other day, program that finished 2nd in the 1997 Tournament (15th WM).

Best regards
Nick
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