Asri-unix.140
net.chess
utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!menlo70!sri-unix!mclure
Wed Nov 25 14:44:49 1981
survey of leading micros
Here is a list of the best chess programs on the market, ordered by
estimated rating in decreasing level of skill along with the current price.
1900+ $799 Fidelity Elite
This is, by far, the strongest of all commercial chess programs,
but it is available only through one outlet: Institutional Computer
Development Corp (see ads in Chess Life magazine). The Elite is the
latest in the line of Spracklen programs, which originated with
the famous Sargon series. The secret of the Elite's strength is its
cpu: a 4 mhz 6502! In order to pull off this trick, Fidelity cannot
produce the Elite in mass quantites, and requires special orders which
deliver it direct from the factory. They sift through thousands of
6502's to find one that runs a bit fast, attach a heat sink, and then
turn up the clock rate. The Elite is a limited production model and
Fidelity plans to make only 500. The Elite has the sensor technology
wherein moving a piece automatically communicates the move to the processor.
It responds by lighting the squares of its move. Elite crushes all
other micro opposition. The other programs are lucky if they win or
draw one game in a multi-game match with it. Against humans, it provides
extremely tough, relentless tactical chess that offers challenges to
anyone below 2000. The opening book is 16K. Typically, Elite looks
a full ply deeper than the other programs (about 5 in the middlegame,
increasing as pieces are swapped off). Elite is the World Micro
Champion. (Comment from an 1850 player, familiar with computer chess:
"I have a very rough time with it.") Two things have greatly impressed
me about the Elite: 1) it is extremely aggressive, 2) it seems to have
an uncanny knack for pushing passed pawns at the right times.
1825 $610 Master Chess Trio
Commonly known as the Gruenfeld/Morphy/Capablanca machine from
Applied Concepts. A very good player with a 12K opening book. Its
disadvantage is that moves must be keyed in, which can be quite a
distraction for the player used to concentrating on the game. The
Capablanca endgame cartridge is somewhat of a software breakthrough
for computer chess. It plays much better in the endgame than all the
other micro programs, and better than most mainframe programs! It
alone boosts the playing strength quite a bit. So, if you're used to
beating machines because of their weak endgame knowledge, be careful
with this one. It can probably hold its own. The exchangable cartridges
offer chances for upgrades without purchasing entirely new machines.
In a 5 game match against Elite at tournament time control, MCT scored
only one win and four losses.
1800 $400 SciSys Mark V
Attractively designed and a pretty good player. In the 3-game playoff
for the World Micro Championship in 1981, the Mark V lost all three
games to Elite.
1771 $375 Fidelity Champion Sensory Challenger
Practically identical to Elite, but running at only 2 mhz. According
to Ken Thompson's equations, an increase of 2x in cpu speed should
bring a corresponding increase of 100 rating points. The CSC program
is a bit older than the Elite program. CSC senses the pieces moved
and doesn't require keying moves just as the Elite does.
Others (all below 1750)
Morphy Encore/Morphy Edition GGM/Novag Savant/Boris-Sargon 2.5 ARB.
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