My 'weak club player, class C level' chess computers

Scisys Sensor Chess + SPM

Year: 1982
Programmer: Julio Kaplan
CPU: 6502 @2Mhz
ROM: 4+2Kb
Elo level: 1399 (1441 FIDE)
CMhz: 2
Rperf: 80%
Square size: 0.99"

I discovered the nice playing style of Kaplan/Barnes programs using the below Chess Companion III. Then I bought stronger with the Tandy 2150. I was curious about playing an older and smaller program version (the chess computer was launched in 1981, but the inserted Strong Play Module dates from 1982). I like the design, it is a pretty device featuring a led for each square, and the leds are magnificently integrated, being level with the board overlay. The whole device is a bit heavy and bulky, especially the original mains adaptor. The overlay has suffered some marks of usage and tends to stick out, mainly around the module place. Nothing unexpected with regards to the age for a chess computer that was offered for €39.90, complete including original package, manual, mains adaptor, chessmen and the Strong Play Module. An additional motivation for buying was my will to populate more this playing strength category, that fits me well. Actually the Sensor Chess rating fluctuates between the low limit here, and the high one within previous category; thanksfully the module helps a bit. Despite a quite strong computing power regarding the category, Sensor Chess can quite easily be caught in tactical schemes, thus revealing a limited tree search. Its strength appears to be related to chess patterns knowledge (no doubt J.Kaplan's mark), basic but efficient: forks, pins, masked attacks, opened lines... Chessmen it tries to jointly make active are quite well coordinated. Talking about user experience, diods are perfect but the push-sensitive squares and panel keys require too much pressure before reaction; and sound management is a bit odd: a bip confirms both from and to-squares recording, on player's move, while on computer move, the single from-square gets a bip for confirmation, and the player must rely on the square diod lighting off to make sure the to-square has been input. As chessboard sensitivity is not great, a second bip would have cleared any doubt.

Conchess Escorter + standard module

Year: 1982
Programmer: Ulf Rathsman
CPU: 6502 @2Mhz
ROM: 24Kb
Elo level: 1407 (1447 FIDE)
CMhz: 2
Rperf: 81%
Square size: 1.1"

I long have been reluctant before entering a Conchess into my collection: there are many evidences of failures, particularly due to 'Reed' switches issues. The chessboards are auto-sensory ones, with three models offered: the Escorter here displayed, the Ambassador, and the Monarch; all three of them are leveraging the same technology; but offering increasing size and quality material. I finally pulled the trigger for this fully working Escorter, offered for €150, the reasonable dimensions of which fit me well. I like its silver and copper shades! The Conchess brand has been registered by the Consumenta Computer company in Munich, that previously retailed Fidelity Electronics products in Germany; the manufacturing was entrusted to the Waltham Electronics company in Ireland; and the chess program is based on Princhess, from the Swedish programmer Ulf Rathsman. Princhess had just achieved an impressive second place after the Fidelity X (eXperimental) chess computer - at the WMCCC (World MicroComputer Chess Championship) in Travemünde, September 1981. All Three Conchess boards are modular type, they do not include any program or micro-processor; the claimed objective being to enable both software and hardware upgrades thru purchasing new moduls (two slots are available under the board). The promise will hang fire, as Consumenta went bankrupt as soon as 1983. Fortunately, the torch will be taken up in Germany (by Loproc which had created the prototype 'computer und logikprozessor systeme' / EES 'Elektronic Entwicklung Service'), and new moduls will be developed. This Escorter is equiped with the standard modul initially sold, the playing level is moderate (and fits me well!). It profits by some tactical abilities, but sometimes lacks finishing skills to efficiently score wins, despite domination. It particularly misses secure avoidance of  3-rep. draws. On one of the squares, piece detection revealed itself weak: not working at first try after getting the device, re-enabled using a stronger magnet (a Vonset piece!), I could play a dozen of games before it failed again. I still had a spare MKA14103 Reed switch from the previous repair of my Saitek Blitz, so I got my soldering iron out again and I opened the Escorter. No visible previous repair, so despite being in line with the established reputation of the Conchess devices, one failing switch after nearly 40 years in working order is sort of acceptable! Next to this small repair, the Escorter is restored 100% functional.

Mephisto II

Year: 1981
Programmer: Thomas Nitsche, Elmar Henne
CPU: 1802 @3.5Mhz
ROM: 12Kb
Elo level: 1413 (1452 FIDE)
CMhz: 0.46
Rperf: 87%

I initially entered the famous Mephisto 'briquette' program in my collection with the Mephisto Mirage form factor (see below within this page). Actually I was not that much keen on getting another chess computer requiring keyboard input for moves coordinates... But the announcement of a Mephisto 1X for €40, including mains adaptor and manual led me to move and buy this famous 'briquette'. Considering an adapter is worth €15 if you need to buy one, the computer itself was offered at €25, it was not worth to do without... The manual is indeed a 1X one, but the removable cartridge is stamped 'II' and tests reveal it is actually a Mephisto II. Thus a software very close to the IIS one hosted in the Mirage - but the appreciably lower speed and the form factor give this chess computer enough difference to get its place within my collection, and I kept it. I discovered a very pleasant to use keyboard, it is large enough and keys are responsive with a soft but neat catch. The Nitsche and Henne program is reknowned for offering a close to human-like play, thanks to a highly selective analysis resulting in a very low speed (analyzed nodes per second) compared to conventional programs which, at that time, aimed mostly to pure speed.

Lexibook Chesslight

Year: 2001
Programmer: Kaare Danielsen
CPU: SC551010P (?) @3,5Mhz (?)
ROM: 4Kb
Elo level: 1420 using aggressive style (1457 FIDE)
CMhz: 2.45
Rperf: 81%
Square size: 0.91"

This Chesslight looks like a toy, I even red a feedback from a purchaser who did not appreciate it, because the light effects were reminiscent of a pinball to him! However, a long press on the sound/color key disables part of these light effects, notably the display of the moves that soberly resumes to the usual lightning of the source square then of the target square (otherwise, the full path lightens square after square, this may entertain and help a child or a very beginner, at the price of slowering the game). Anyway, this electronic chess game does not concede much to tradition; apart of course of its small 4K program based on Kaare Danielsen's Logichess which really appears to power definitely each and every Lexibook, and already equipped the Yeno 320XT introduced in the previous category (and as well equipped other Yeno, and other brands). The association of 64 LEDs (in the center of each square) and translucent chessmen is much unusual, despite not rid of some drawbacks; and more globally the design of this electronic chess game, with the casing itself being translucent, is really distinctive, colorful, bright and playful. These were the reasons I was tempted to purchase one, and also in order to own a device that would appeal to my grandchildren, for an introduction to playing chess. I expected a cheap price, and the traditional set of chessmen; as there is a stylized modern set I definitely dislike, at first because of the Knight, like nothing on earth but maybe a stylised alien or a plastic key (check the below picture). I found a real bargain, €20 used, with the original box, the user manual, the bag to hold the pieces, and the VTech mains adapter included. As purchasing separately an universal adapter would have costed me around €15, it was just like getting a €5 device! Let's now be more specific about the drawbacks of the central LEDs display system: in order to be translucent enough (and cheap), the chessmen are made of thin hollow plastic, so they are very light and little stable. As long as the chess computer is quietly played on a table, no worries, but assuming children would play on the ground or with a bit of excitement, any small bump on the device would shuffle the pieces. On another hand, I was pleasantly surprised by the feel sensitivity of the squares, a light touch is enough to register the moves; the side function keys are decent; thus apart from the pieces and pawns, the quality of engineering of this chess computer is really fine.
I spent many efforts to state the year the Chesslight reached the market; it is a timeless device still offered today (I am writing in late 2022) on so many merchant websites and chain stores, at a price new around €60 (without any mains adapter). At first, you need to revert back to 1997 to place the Lexibook buy-out of Yeno; Yeno used to name its devices with a three digits number followed by two letters (301XL, 309XT, 320XT, 416XL, 532XL, 540XT...) whilst Lexibook is now using names (Chesslight, Chessman Pro, Chessman Light, Chessman Elite, Chessman Classic...). But in the early years, Lexibook kept on using the Yeno codes; so the Yeno 325XI has been sold as Lexibook 325XI (1997), the 1994 Yeno 430XT came back to the market as Lexibook 430XT (before adopting the Chessman Elite name, this device is still sold up to day, around €50!), and the Lexibook 425XLights (or XLight, depending on whether you look at the box or at the user's manual) that reached the market in 1999 is still keeping on using that Yeno logic (but the 425XLights has never been sold under the Yeno brand, as far as I know). And the Lexibook 425XLights, from a technical standpoint, is already the Chesslight; it just still did not get the name. So, one can consider 1999 as the origin birthdate of the Chesslight, maybe even the design dates back to 1997, assuming it was already part of Yeno's plans. But to be fair, the Chesslight name must have appeared year 2001, as did the Chessman Pro and Chessman Light names, thus I keep this date. A funny observation: during a long time, the Lexibook user's manuals kept on being printed using the Yeno models references; so I spotted a 2003 Lexibook Chessmax with a 435XI manual; many used Chesslight classified ads display a 425XLights manual (mine did), and a Chesslight titled manual apparead only very late. By the way, Lexibook is especially lazy or neglectful of updating the manuals. As an evidence, the thinking times relating to the game levels were definitely not updated. The microcontroller did evolve, compared to the 68HC05 used by the old Yeno computers. The CPU Id  provided above is unsure: SC551010P appears to be the label present on the Lexibook PCBs at the MCU place; I could retrieve this Id on several chinese portals of electronic components sellers, but I failed to access any details about. It is supposedly a Motorola 68HC08 compatible microcontroller unit (successor of the 68HC05). Leveraging several tests, I assessed my Chesslight is 75% faster than the Chessman Pro, which is known to be using the same microcontroller paced with 2Mhz, therefore my clocking estimate of 3.5Mhz for my example. Despite this difference, the announced thinking times are the same across both manuals (and probably already incorrect for the Chessman Pro...). I used a stopwatch to evaluate the average thinking times of my Chesslight, for the levels 6 to 11 (5s to 10mn according to the manual); then I applied the proportional adjustment to the announced times from the manual for the levels 12 to 15 (30mn to 24h, and mate search). Of course the beginner's levels 1 to 5 keep on being almost instant response; then the real averages are: 6=2 to 3s ;  7=3 to 4s ; 8=10 to 15s ; 9=20 to 30s ; 10=40 to 90s ; 11=2m30 to 3m ; and the proportionnaly adjusted manual times: 12=10 to 15m ; 13=45m to 1h ; 14=8 to 10h ; 15=Mate in : M1=1s ; M2=30s ; M3=30m ; M4=10h ; M5=2weeks.
Being close to three times faster than the Yeno 320XT (2.825 times for full accuracy), the Chesslight plays one step stronger, thus is not a duplicate in my collection, despite sharing the same program. In addition, I decided to have it play using the aggressive style, to still better get a different game compared to the Yeno (which I let play using the normal style).

The ugly Knight from the modern set!


The Chesslight/425XLights looks modern, but it is a case in the small world of chess computers: it is on the market since more than twenty years!
As for it, the Chessman Elite/430XT is over a quarter of a century of market presence (1994-2022), and this might not be finished...


The Chesslight makes me want to toy with the light!

Applied Concept Sargon 2.5

Year: 1979
Programmer: Dan & Kathe Spracklen
CPU: 6502 @2Mhz
ROM: 8Kb
Elo level: 1434 (1467 FIDE)
CMhz: 2
Rperf: 82%
Square size: 1.01"

Mr and Mrs Spracklen's programs left a mark on my early personal story with computer chess, including Sargon I and II running on  my old TRS-80, my correspondence game with Sargon II running on an Apple II, then the Excellence. I mention as well their top Othello program running on the Fidelity Reversi Challenger dated from 1981, on a Sensory 9-like hardware, which will leave its own mark on several international tournaments organized by the French magazine l'Ordinateur Individuel. Sargon 2.5 is reknown for being the very first program made available on dedicated hardware and offering acceptable chess skills, thus a must-have in my collection, but hard to find. It is as well one of my highest second hand buying cost, €150 on German eBay. The program is exactly Sargon II with added ability to ponder over its opponent's move, thus justifying the 2.5 release name. However this is not a permanent brain feature: pondering does not continue once the expected set level is met. Cumulating the 2Mhz speed of the 6502 and this thinking anticipation make the Sargon 2.5 able to use level 2 while respecting the 15 seconds per move pace, whereas Sargon II either on overclocked TRS-80 (Z80 @2,66Mhz) or on Commodore 64 (6502 @1Mhz) cannot exceed level 1. Permanent brain will later be provided in Spracklen's programs starting from Sargon III and its derivatives. The Sargon 2.5 module is connected here in a Great Game Machine (de luxe edition of the Modular Game System, featuring a leather coated board). The module starts up with a light blue LEDs displayed message 'Boris awaits your move' - here we are on a familiar ground! The display keeps on displaying the board one full row at a time, with symbols for each piece, a very useful feature assuming one need to check or update the position. The text speech concept inherited from the very first Boris continues with Sargon 2.5; but the messages are selected according to the more or less advantageous position, thus being more relevant. As Sargon requires the evaluation of the position, the message if any is displayed at the end of the thinking time - thus delaying the display of the chosen move. A key to speed-up or abort the streaming of the message would have been useful. Talking about keys, the keyboard despite being quite primitive is very sensitive and thus pleasant to use.

Novag Carnelian II

Year: 2005
Programmer: Dave Kittinger
CPU: KS57C2616 @8Mhz
ROM: 16Kb
Elo level: 1435 (1468 FIDE)
CMhz: 0.78
Rperf: 86%
Square size: 0.98"

Liking vintage chess computers does not prevent from showing some interest with more recent ones. Despite Dave Kittinger did not work any more for Novag at this time, the program is a derivative of its predecessors, with Novag's engineers work to provide many more playing levels (here are 128 of them!). A significant part of the 16K ROM seems to be used to manage these sophisticated levels and the opening book; and the tiny RAM (768 bytes available, less than 1K!) led to removal of pondering. As a result, the playing level is significantly below the one of a good old 'true' 16K Kittinger program (you may check the Constellation in stronger category page). The microcontroller used inside is not announced by Novag, but the performance level provided by this 8Mhz singlechip is fully consistent with the performance of former devices from the same brand, using a 8Mhz 6301Y (external clocking, four times divided for the computing of CPU instructions, resulting in 2Mhz actual CPU clocking). The probability is therefore very high for the Carnelian II to host a similar microcontroller. Update: as a clone of Opal+, Agate+ and more, and according to this low-midrange list from Schachcomputer.info forum, the singlechip should be a KS57C2616, a 4 bits microcontroller, with only 768 RAM nibbles. Being significantly less powerful than a 6502, the loss in strength compared to old 16K devices is much explained. I bought this chess computer still enclosed in its original packaging, at a reasonable price (€75), and despite the limited playing level I do not regret this buying: the push-sensitive board is very soft and responsive, very pleasant to use, and the small wooden pieces are nice and consistently sized, with a quite strong magnet providing a good holding on the board. Playing style is a bit passive, but assuming the program gets an advantage, it is able to attack quite brilliantly. One of my preferred opponents, as a conclusion.

Scisys Kasparov Chess Companion III

Year: 1986
Programmer: Julio Kaplan
CPU: 6301Y @8/4Mhz
ROM: 16Kb
Elo level: 1518 (1530 FIDE)
CMhz: 1.68
Rperf: 88%
Square size: 0.98"

The 2Mhz clocked 6301Y microcontroller (8Mhz divided by 4) is typical for 16K chess computers designed for the general public, it is available at a lower cost than a 6502 but is less powerful. As far as pure computing power is concerned, it is nevertheless roughly worth a 1.6Mhz 6502 one can find, for instance, in an early released Sensory 9. I have bought this one (€50) to include a Julio Kaplan (seconded by Craig Barnes) program into my collection, and I was not disappointed with it. The chess skills of the former junior world champion provide a very interesting playing style to this chess computer, less stereotyped than others to my humble opinion. I read in the Wiki of schach-computer.info website its permanent brain is supposed to ponder three most plausible opponent's move, but the manual does not mention this clearly, and my tests revealed one and only one pondered move, which is reasonable assuming the very weak hardware (only 256 bytes of RAM!). This is a limit of a singlechip microcontroller such as the 6301Y: it includes CPU, RAM and ROM within a single component, a cost reduction industrial concept, thus adding external RAM would kill the logic. One must manage the situation as is, whereas a 6502 CPU will mandatorily benefit from RAM components which can be scaled as needed (2Kb for instance are available in a Sensory 9, that is to say 8 times more).

Vonset (aka Femuey) L6

Year: 2022
Programmer: Vonset team
CPU: not communicated
ROM: not communicated
Elo level: 1529 (1539 FIDE)
CMhz: unknown
Rperf: unknown
KT: 1441
Square size: 1.1"

I ordered this Vonset L6 smart board direct from China, using this portal, the cost was $198 including shipment (€195 according to the change rate applied then), on the ground of a discussion with its product designer, who joined a forum about electronic chess. The explained approach looked to me an interesting one: after several years producing low-end games, re-using weak chess software, the factory formed a strong hardware and software development team, upgraded the chess engine (based on existing algorithms), and designed a new product line, of which the L6 looks to be the first stone (a L6+ and a L6 Pro appear to be planned). The company name is a bit of a puzzle, up to there we were discussing about Vonset Intelligent Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd; of which the first commercial use dates from late 2020, and registered in the US October, 2021. Who then did produce the previous low-end designs? My guess is Year Vantage Holdings Limited, owner of those brands: BrainGames, Krypton and RYO; sharing some designs with the low-end Vonset or Femuey. Femuey (Femuey Intelligent Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.) is an alternate brand to Vonset, in some cases, maybe some countries: I could not guess any rule for the badging of one or the other brand; anyway the designs are the very same, look and model number. To make it even more vague, my Vonset user's manual also mentions 'Fermi smart board' by 'Fermi Technology'. Fermi looks to always be the brand badged on L6 in China, according to available snapshots; and a large capital 'F' is displayed at power on of the board, by mean of the squares LEDs.
These diods are a key feature, and a very visible one, of this chess computer design: each square can be light up with a color out of several (green, blue, red, purple, white). Purple points out something requiring special attention (e.g. King in check), white is the starting square of a move (and green is the target square for a L6 move); and green/blue/red are a color code for the legal squares a piece can reach, once the player lifted it, planning to move it: green for a threat-free square, red for a square where the piece can be captured, blue for a particularly convenient square. It is therefore a light support for beginners, showing the legal moves for the chosen piece, and advising to calculate if the player plans to move it onto a red square. The analysis resulting in the squares colors is only run at ground surface, therefore a red square may be a correct target, for example if the capture threat can be balanced by a re-capture. Any illegal move tentative would result in the wrong square being lighten up as red. Of course this coaching feature can be disabled using the options menu, and the LEDs can be dimmed (two levels are available). In addition, the moves are spoken, thanks to a synthetized voice (a woman's one, english speaking, and there again it can be reduced, disabled, and sound level can be set). The chessboard features an auto-response system, you only need to pick-up a piece from the source square, and put it down on the target square (without sliding the piece on the board, as this would trigger intermediate detection). The detection uses powerful magnets inserted at the bottom of each piece, and these thoroughly secure the chess position: nice to enable easier use with children.

Another key visible element of the L6 is its electronic ink display (perfectly legible whatever the viewing axis, under any light condition or so). It can display the entire board position, the evaluated position score, the list of moves; and it enables easy access to the software menus.
The L6 offers useful features, such as a game clock (without effect on the computer thinking time), take back moves (illimited in training mode), auto power off if not used for a while. Adjourning a game is easy, resuming it is instantly done if the pieces remained on the board, otherwise the display enables placing them back to the expected position (pieces can be stored in the device drawer). A puzzle mode is also offered, with 1000 positions to train with.
The computer playing level is set using twenty values, providing instant response (or so) up to level 17. Starting with level 18, a LEDs animation appears until the move is computed, which requires 2 to 5 seconds as an order of magnitude. The average thinking time is less than 10 secs per move at level 19, and less than 20 secs using the last, strongest level 20. Beware these are averages, including fast play in the endgame; whilst during middlegame with still many pieces present, one can assume up to four or five times these values. As to the first ten levels, they are useless except for kids initiation, preventing them from any loss: the computer will carefully avoid to win. Starting with level 11, it is still a much easy opponent, nevertheless will mate you if you let it doing so. The interesting levels are therefore those from 11 to 20, and the increase in strength looks to be rather well scaled across them.
The playing style is rather dynamic; it can launch attacks even without complete calculation; a likely indication for a selective approach in the search. Sometimes the attack brilliantly achieves a gain, sometimes it fails; and it can commit blunders even up to levels 19 and 20, resulting in a rather human style, pleasant for an intermediate level player (which I am!). Reactive and attractive, user-friendly, it can especially fit learning and training for children, in addition to being able to please grown-ups.


Thanks to its rich display (including score in centipawns) and to the easy and efficient setup ability, I could run the Khmelnitsky test with the L6. As there is no way to enforce a long analysis time (as I usually do with other chess computers, granting 3 minutes thinking time to them), I only could use its strongest level, which is 20, scarcely reaching 90 seconds, and only using few seconds in endgame positions. Well, despite this handicap, it achieved a score corresponding to the top of the next category, on par with a Fidelity Excellence or a Saitek Kasparov Blitz! Main strengths are threats detection, calculations, and tactics. As usual for chess programs, the L6 is more comfortable with counterattacks than with attack. The strategic skills are weak, and the lack of knowledge in endgame is blatant (it nevertheless performs better thant the Blitz in this area!). A same level human opponent would be wise playing carefully until the outskirts of the endgame, then it will be easier to overwhelm it.

Mephisto Mirage

Year: 1984
Programmer: Thomas Nitsche, Elmar Henne
CPU: 1806 @8Mhz
ROM: 16Kb
Elo level: 1533 (1542 FIDE)
CMhz: 1.06
Rperf: 91%
KT: 1339
Square size: 1.18"

The Mirage module hosts the Mephisto II'S' program, once again accelerated from 6.1 to 8Mhz. I initially bought this module with its dedicated push-sensitive board (€75), but a row of squares started failing shortly after I got the board. Not a serious issue, I bought bare at reasonnable price (€45) on the German eBay the modular board shown here. Once the module inserted and the mains adapter plugged in, the Mirage was restored ready to play. On the other hand I had some trouble to find convenient magnetic pieces: the magnet is mandatory to trigger the 'reed' switches hidden under the playing surface, a sufficient magnetic power is required, but too much of it results in gathering or repelling pieces, and may eventually trigger aside square's switches. Magnetic sets pieces revealed either too small with regards to the board size, either too powerful because of the larger magnets inserted in large chessmen (King, Queen). I finally bought a set of pieces from a modular board, once again on German eBay (€28); they are designed with the consistent size to be used on the board and to be stored in the drawers beside the module, and the magnet size is constant whatever the piece. I enhanced the plastic pieces with felt to soften the contact with the playing surface, without disrupting the magnetic field. Playing comfort is at top level with the modular board, fortunately as the small keyboard provided on the module is quite unpleasant, the keys are small and provide a rubbery feeling. Cumulating the attractive sensitive board, the human-like playing style of the program, and the level I can still beat, this is one of my favorite chess computers. Well, to be fully honest, it is my favorite one.



With this Nitsche & Henne program, I expected an unusual profile, as a result of Khmelnitsky's test. Actually not, with regards to the main characteristics we are used to with other programs from the same era: a strong defense, able to recognize threats, rather leveraging counterattack than attack; and with better tactical skills than strategic ones. The much little grasp of sacrifice is as well a very common feature. Calculations ability is not as reduced as I feared. As a conclusion, the most obvious characteristic touch of the Mirage is as well shared with other devices from the same age, but outstandingly aggravated here: the fading strength, starting from the opening phase which is exceptionally strong here (Elo 2330!), to the much weakened endgame; going through a solid middlegame.

Mephisto Maestro Travel

Year: 2004
Programmer: Craig Barnes
CPU: H8 @7Mhz
ROM: 16Kb
Elo level: 1541 (1548 FIDE)
CMhz: 4,55
Rperf: 85%
Square size: 0.28"

After the tiny Calculator Chess, this device is the second one being a pocket chess computer, and being battery operated, within my collection. And it is a Saitek, and a Craig Barnes as well... Actually I was looking for a program from this author running on a more powerful hardware, and I had an opportunity to buy this quite mint condition Maestro Travel, close to my home, for a fair €35. It is a nice looking device, designed like a PDA, despite being somewhat more bulky than most personal data assistants. Like a Palm, it features a touch screen one uses with a stylus. Chessmen design is clean and easy to recognize, the lit-back display provides excellent playing comfort. This form factor is fully relevant for playing while being mobile: you will not lose any small piece from a pocket chessboard. The program shows some obvious and frustrating bugs; as an example, level set to 15 secs per move, it can announce mate in two (an actual situation) and stalemate with its next move, or it can as well fail to checkmate despite playing with Queen + King vs King! But don't run away, in most won situations, it actually wins... As comparing to a handheld is relevant, it is slightly stronger than PocketChess running on a 4 to 5 times faster Sony Clié (Dragonball @33Mhz).

Fidelity Champion Sensory Chess Challenger

Year: 1981
Programmer: Dan & Kathe Spracklen
CPU: 6502 @1.95Mhz
ROM: 32Kb
Elo level: 1563 (1564 FIDE)
CMhz: 1.95
Rperf: 90%
Square size: 1"

Sargon 2.5, introduced previously in this page, was the first dedicated device with a decent playing strength, but this chess computer is among the first ones to be known for enhancements regarding the endgame. It is as well the first Fidelity device to include a Spracklen program. So, it is the forerunner of the whole lineage of strong Fidelity chess computers, and it already has some genes (including thinking over opponent's time) of Sargon III that will reach the market two years later, late 1983 for the Apple II, before being adapted to other microcomputers in 1984. Above all these considerations, it is the winner of the very first World MicroComputer Chess Championship (WMCCC) in London, September 1980. It will make its domination very clear by winning also the first Official North American Microcomputer Chess Championship held in San Jose, California, in the same few days. It won each and every nine games in nine rounds, considering both competitions. It will hold the place of best performer in Europe Echecs magazine's tests from November 1981 to April 1982, being only evicted by its successor, the twice as fast Fidelity Elite Champion Sensory Chess Challenger (the name gets a bit long, doesn't it?). In addition it is a beautiful device, with a heavy wooden frame and a nice finish. It reuses the 1980' Voice Sensory Chess Challenger casing, the only visible change being the "Champion" label. The content is much different, as the "Voice" includes a much weaker Ron Nelson's program, leveraging a Z80 clocked with 4Mhz, providing less performance than the 2Mhz 6502. On another hand, both chess computers are equipped with synthesized voice (mine speaking French, with some funny results: "castle"-"short" translates into "roque"-"petit", while the correct way to say it in French is "petit roque"), and 64 classic grandmaster games, to train oneself finding the best moves. One can as well select, and use for training, any opening line you may choose. Should you deduct the size of the ROM enabling these features, with the voice as main one, the resulting program size can be estimated between 16 to 20 Kb, for fair comparison sake. Another unusual feature offered by the Champion is to enable tournament levels (number of moves to be played during a given time, including a primary period and a secondary one - e.g. 40 moves in 10 minutes, then 20 moves every 5 minutes). The setup process is somewhat complex; using the small six keys keyboard on the sloping console. According to the function you enter in, keys have different meanings: getting the user's manual is thus essential. The small soft keys tend to loose conductivity with time and usage (as do old television remote controls) and can so require firm press, not to say they can end completely inoperative. That was the actual situation with this device, otherwise mint condition, complete with the original mains adapter, the user's manual, and the Rexton case (Fidelity Electronic's vendor in France), bought for €105 on French "le bon coin". Dismantling/reassembling is a bit tricky but practicable, and I glued some small circles punched from a strong aluminium paper inside the keys; so the keyboard is enabled again. The small wooden chessmen are really nice, I am pretty sure Fidelity purchased them from France to the Chavet company (already imported in the US, e.g. provider to the "Pacific Game Company", and to "Cavalier"). I let you check, comparing with THE reference piece, the Chavet knight:
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