SciSys Olympiade

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BillT
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SciSys Olympiade

Post by BillT »

I recently picked up a mint in Box SciSys Olypmiade (from a charity shop) probably never used. Not the strongest of boards i realise but nice all the same for my collection. I've pitched it up against my SciSys Sensor Chess (est ELO1400) and its comfortably ahead.
However I can't find much information about it at all on the net. It is obviously similar to the Scisys Companion 2 (Danielsson),but surely there will be spec differences. I dont recall seeing one of these on the "bay"...is it a rarity??
Anyway...does anyone know the details of this machine ie Programmer/processor/Mhz/ram/Rom/ELO ...for my records. All I know is it was made in 1984.


Cheers
Bill
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

Hi Bill
i wouldn't say the Olympiade is exactly rare as i do see them on Ebay fairly consistently,however like the Novag Topaz ll,Conic Korchnoi and Novag Dynamic "S"(all of which i have posted about here)this is another of those computers that have had very little written about it either on the net or in print
i could find nothing about in either Selective Search or in the Computer Chess Reports

i dont own the Olympiade but would be interested in seeing some games
perhaps you can play a few games and post them to establish a written record?

Archival Regards
Steve
BillT
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Post by BillT »

Steve
Yes sure...some games to follow, I've decided to play a few games against Conchess std program average move 1 minute ponder on. (no choice on either machine) I would imagine that should be a fairly close match.
I haven't posted games on here before, is there an easy way to get the moves posted, otherwise I'll have to type in all the moves......
I'll have the games saved in PGN format.
Regards
Bill
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Monsieur Plastique
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Re: SciSys Olympiade

Post by Monsieur Plastique »

BillT wrote:I've pitched it up against my SciSys Sensor Chess (est ELO1400) and its comfortably ahead.
Back in the early 80s I ran a 10 game match between the SciSys Sensor chess with 4K modules (Classical / Hypermodern) and the Companion II. It was extremely close with the Companion II only edging out the Sensor Chess by 5.5 to 4.5.

Are you using any modules in your Sensor Chess?

btw, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Olympiade was the Companion II rebadged for a particular market.
Last edited by Monsieur Plastique on Mon Apr 27, 2015 10:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by spacious_mind »

I had posted some Olympiad games Christmas Day as a Christmas gift to the forum. Maybe no one read it :(

http://hiarcs.net/forums/viewtopic.php? ... sc&start=0

Sulking regards :(
Nick
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Post by Monsieur Plastique »

Hi Nick,

Looking at those results I wonder whether the Olympiade was a Companion II program running at a faster speed but with the levels adjusted for the faster processor (unlike Concorde where the thinking times were halved).
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Post by spacious_mind »

Monsieur Plastique wrote:Hi Nick,

Looking at those results I wonder whether the Olympiade was a Companion II program running at a faster speed but with the levels adjusted for the faster processor (unlike Concorde where the thinking times were halved).
Yes that is about right, I tend to think it is very closely related if not the same but perhaps made specifically for the French market, which was about the only place it was sold.

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Nick
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Post by spacious_mind »

spacious_mind wrote:
Monsieur Plastique wrote:Hi Nick,

Looking at those results I wonder whether the Olympiade was a Companion II program running at a faster speed but with the levels adjusted for the faster processor (unlike Concorde where the thinking times were halved).
Yes that is about right, I tend to think it is very closely related if not the same but perhaps made specifically for the French market, which was about the only place it was sold.

Regards
PS, those tests also put Nelsons Sensory Voice into perspective. If Sensory Voice is rated at 1394 at tournament setting then all the tested computers can be rated the same. ie Mark 8 and Advanced Portachess and Olympiad.
Nick
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Post by Steve B »

BillT wrote:Steve
YI'll have to type in all the moves......
I'll have the games saved in PGN format.
Regards
Bill
Yes you have to save the game in Pgn..then post
you can use a PC program to make the PGN for you but you have to enter the moves from the board into the program

i use Hiarcs Explorer to do this

PGN Regards
Steve
Last edited by Steve B on Mon Apr 27, 2015 11:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

spacious_mind wrote:I had posted some Olympiad games Christmas Day as a Christmas gift to the forum. Maybe no one read it :(

http://hiarcs.net/forums/viewtopic.php? ... sc&start=0

Sulking regards :(
i do remember the games now
in fact i posted in the thread soon after your posted the games
anyway...with a computer that has so little written about...

The More Games Posted The Better Regards
Steve
BillT
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Post by BillT »

Thanks for all the replies, sorry for the delay responding....really busy with work.

Monsiur plastique "Are you using any modules in your Sensor Chess? "
No....just the std program (I really regret selling my original sensor chess complete with strong play module at a boot sale for a couple of quid some years ago !) Seeing as neither board allows full game replay and I wasn't logging the moves in droidfish I don't have any record of the games. But Olympiade was 5-1 up when I decided it was a mis- match and stopped.
Also,I have to say that the Olympiade does move very quickly and hardly ever uses the time available (usually taking only a few seconds even when set to 15 or 30 seconds average move) so i doubt that the levels have been adjusted for the faster processor which by the way has the following script on it.
1983 TE-1
SYISYS-W
0609V171
4G 1 JAPAN
Once again I've not been able to find any information on this. anybody know what its spec is?

The current match against Conchess std module is 1-0 to Conchess after 1 game at ave 1min per move although the Olympiade is moving suicidally quick most of the time,especially once a few pieces have been removed.
I have the game as PGN but still unsure how to import it Steve

Whats interesting is that the box has a large "special offer price reduced from Woolworths"price sticker on it .so if it was made for the French market then "woolies" (remember them! ) must have bought up a load of these Olympiades to clear as perhaps it didn't sell very well in France ( maybe these Olypmiades are rare after all ). .who knows! Incidentaly the price from Woolies in the mid 1980's was £50 reduced to £25 so assume Woolies probably paid £10 each for a bulk lot ....which is exactly what I gave the charity shop for it a couple of weeks ago. ..fascinating

Still looking for more info on this board regards

:D
Bill
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Steve B
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Post by Steve B »

BillT wrote:
I have the game as PGN but still unsure how to import it Steve
Hi Bill

just open your PGN file with a normal text editor (like windows notepad)
copy the text of the PGN and then paste it just like you would type any normal text when writing a post
now Fen diagrams are a whole different matter entirely ...

Olympic Regards
Steve
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Post by Mike Watters »

Hi All

I have updated the Olympiade page on the website including a picture of the inside -
http://www.chesscomputeruk.com/html/olympiade.html

Couldn't find anything about the bespoke SciSys processor, which presumably is not a standard 80C50 as Nick's tests suggest the Olympiade is a bit stronger than the Companion II.

All the best
Mike
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Post by BillT »

Hi Mike
Thanks for your post and very good update,I keep meaning to thank you and complement you on your great website. so please accept this as it.
you'll be pleased to know that that the Conchess A1 module I bought from you some time ago is still going strong!

So the first of the games between Conchess std V SciSys Olympiade at 1 min per move although Olympiade seems to move very quickly in comparison to Conchess. Both are ponder on as it cannot be turned off on either board.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.04.26"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Conchess std 1 minute"]
[Black "SciSys Olympiade 1 minute"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl ]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nxd4 6. Qxd4 c5 7. Qe5+ Be7
8. Be3 d6 9. Bb5+ Bd7 10. Bxd7+ Qxd7 11. Qg3 O-O 12. O-O-O Qe6 13. f3 a5 14.
Rhe1 a4 15. a3 Rfc8 16. Nb5 Ra6 17. Rd2 Kh8 18. Kb1 Kg8 19. Bh6 Nh5 20. Qg4
Qxg4 21. fxg4 Ra5 22. Nxd6 Bxd6 23. Rxd6 Nf6 24. Bd2 Ra6 25. Rxa6 bxa6 26. g5
Ng4 27. Bf4 Rd8 28. Ka2 c4 29. h3 Nf2 30. Re2 Nd1 31. g3 c3 32. b3 axb3+ 33.
Kxb3 Kf8 34. Kb4 Ke7 35. Be5 Rd2 36. Re1 f6 37. gxf6+ gxf6 38. Bxc3 a5+ 39. Kc4
Nxc3 40. Kxc3 Rd8 41. Rf1 Ke6 42. Rf5 Rc8+ 43. Kd3 Rg8 44. g4 Rd8+ 45. Kc4 a4
46. h4 Rc8+ 47. Rc5 Rb8 48. Rc7 h6 49. Rh7 Rc8+ 50. Kb5 Rxc2 51. Rxh6 Rg2 52.
g5 Rb2+ 53. Kxa4 Ke5 54. Rxf6 Rb7 55. h5 Kxe4 56. Ka5 Rb3 57. a4 Rg3 58. Re6+
Kf5 59. Rd6 Rxg5 60. Rd5+ Kg4 61. Rxg5+ Kxg5 62. Kb6 Kxh5 63. a5 Kg4 64. a6 Kg3
65. a7 Kf4 66. Kc5 Kf5 67. Kd4 Ke6 68. a8=Q Kf6 69. Qd5 Kg6 70. Ke5 Kh5 71.
Kf4+ Kg6 72. Qf5+ Kh6 73. Qg4 Kh7 74. Kf5 Kh8 75. Kg6 Kg8 76. Qc8# 1-0




I havent offered any annotation as I dont feel qualified to do so....I'm not a strong player.

Second game to follow.Regards

Bill
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Post by Steve B »

Mike Watters wrote:Hi All

I have updated the Olympiade page on the website including a picture of the inside -
http://www.chesscomputeruk.com/html/olympiade.html

Couldn't find anything about the bespoke SciSys processor, which presumably is not a standard 80C50 as Nick's tests suggest the Olympiade is a bit stronger than the Companion II.

All the best
Mike
Hi Mike
i could find nothing written about the Scisys Olympiade either in Selective Search or Computer Chess Reports
its possible i missed it though..
can you name your source for the programmer and other information you have just added?

Thanks
Steve
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