Collector's Corner..2007 Annual Physicals ..Continue..

[JonP01]

I was going to give Harvey a chunk of plastic if his machine won.

What else do you expect Regards

Jonathan

[Alainza]

Hi Steve,

yup same times regards

I should be able to watch this match tomorrow.

Received a Renaissance Sparc this morning regards,

Alain

PS : Steve, and this Renaissance has even the original box

[Steve B]

Hi Steve,

yup same times regards

I should be able to watch this match tomorrow.

Received a Renaissance Sparc this morning regards,

Alain

PS : Steve, and this Renaissance has even the original box

CONGRATS to the Ren Sparc Alain!


but we cannot yet say for certain if you truly have THE original box
there were TWO boxes sold with the Renaissance board

the FIRST (in my collection):
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 4182854/65

and then later this new box(Kurt's Collection):
http://www.schachcomputer.at/sparc.htm

so do you have the ORIGINAL original box?
or the NON-ORIGINAL original box?

Hardcore Collecting Regards
Steve

[Alainza]

Hi again Steve,

the FIRST (in my collection):
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 4182854/65

and then later this new box(Kurt's Collection):
http://www.schachcomputer.at/sparc.htm

so do you have the ORIGINAL original box?
or the NON-ORIGINAL original box?

Hardcore Collecting Regards
Steve

I have the box shown on Kurt's forum.

but it is ok with me, I would have paid the same price without the box

Additional question : the pieces were in a wooden box which fits quite well in the Renaissance's box, was this box for the pieces provided by Saitek or is it an addition of my seller ?

Still learning regards,
Alain

[Steve B]

Hi again Steve,

the FIRST (in my collection):
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 4182854/65

and then later this new box(Kurt's Collection):
http://www.schachcomputer.at/sparc.htm

so do you have the ORIGINAL original box?
or the NON-ORIGINAL original box?

Hardcore Collecting Regards
Steve

I have the box shown on Kurt's forum.

but it is ok with me, I would have paid the same price without the box

Additional question : the pieces were in a wooden box which fits quite well in the Renaissance's box, was this box for the pieces provided by Saitek or is it an addition of my seller ?

Still learning regards,
Alain

if the box has a thin sliding wooden cover on the top then this is the normal wooden box for the pieces for the Renaissance ,Galileo and Leonardo boards

Astrological Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

I should be able to watch this match tomorrow.

Hi Alain

in preparation for tomorrows mornings slug fest and to try to squeeze in another computer for testing i locked and loaded the Renaissance board with Morsch's Brute Force Module
rated 2027(SS) it ran at 10Mhz and 256k Ram
the Brute Force module is somewhat different then the other Saitek OSA modules in that the levels are divided between a normal Selective search algorithm and the Brute Force search algorithm
the BF search will enable the computer to see almost all tactical threats but not search very deeply while the SS routine will see far deeper and possibly uncover Combinations that the BF would miss

feeling some what cocky after my crushing defeat of the extremely strong Scisys Philidor i decided to have a go myself at the Brute force

i set the level to ...Brute Force Searching..30 seconds per move and i took the White pieces...

In the game ..I was out of book by move 7..
the BF Searched typically 6-7 ply

[White "Steve B"]
[Black "Saitek Brute Force"]
[TimeControl "30 Sec/Move Avg."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.e3 O-O 6.Bd3 d5 7.a3
cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 e5 10.Nb3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Qxd1+
12.Kxd1 Rd8+ 13.Ke2 b6 14.Bb2 Bb7 15.f3 Nbd7 16.e4 Rac8 17.Bd3 Nf8
18.Rad1 Ne6 19.Bc2 Nf4+ 20.Kf2 Ba6 21.g3 Nd3+ 22.Bxd3 Rxd3 23.Rxd3 Bxd3 24.Nc1 Bc4 25.Rd1Kf8 26.Ne2 Ke7 27.Ke3 Ke6 28.h3 Nh5
29.Rg1 Rd8 30.Nc1 g6 31.f4 f5 32.fxe5 Kxe5 33.exf5
gxf5 34.g4 Nf6 35.gxf5 Nd5+ 36.Kf3 Rf8 37.Re1+ Kxf5 38.Ne2 Kg5+ 39.Kg3
Re8 40.Bc1+ Kf6 41.Kf2 Rxe2+ 42.Rxe2 Bxe2 43.Kxe2 Nxc3+

[D] 8/p6p/1p3k2/8/8/P1n4P/4K3/2B5 w - - 0 44

ok ok so i just blundered away a pawn for nothing
but i felt confident that my well known endgame technique could salvage the draw for me
(well know by whom ...i dont know)

44.Kd3 Nd5 45.Ke4 Ke6 46.h4 a5 47.Bg5 b5 48.Bd2 b4 49.axb4
axb4 50.Kd4 b3 51.Bc1 Ne7 52.Kc3 Nf5 53.Kxb3 Nxh4


[D] 8/7p/4k3/8/7n/1K6/8/2B5 w - - 0 54

this is a dead draw
as long as my Bishop can cover the black square h2.. i also need to get the King back so that black cannot place his Knight on G3 to block my bishop from covering h2

54.Bf4 Kd5 55.Kc3 h5 56.Kd3 Nf5 57.Ke2 Ke4 58.Bh2 h4 59.Kf2 Ne3 60.Kg1 Kf3 61.Bc7
Ng4 62.Bb8 h3 63.Kh1 Ne3 64.Bc7 Kg4 65.Kh2 Nf1+ 66.Kg1 Nd2
67.Kh1 Nf3 68.Bb8 Kf5



FINAL POSITION

[D] 8/8/8/5k2/5B2/5n1p/8/7K b - - 0 69
69.Bf4 !
i thought it a nice way to show that its useless to play on by dropping my bishop smack dab into the nest of Black Pieces
of course taking the B is Stalemate
the BF wants to play 69..Nd4 but i was not in the mood to go on like this until the 50 move rule was invoked..
so i adjudicated the game as Drawn
Bring On Langs London 030-33!

We Are Ready To Rumble Regards
Steve

[Alainza]

Hi Steve,

if the box has a thin sliding wooden cover on the top then this is the normal wooden box for the pieces for the Renaissance ,Galileo and Leonardo boards

yes, that's it. Thanks for the answer !
The Renaissance was really a great product !

Good luck for tomorrow regards,
Alain

[Steve B]

While it seems that each week we are treated to yet another Russian Chess Engine running on a Quad Core Quadruple Opteron rated at 3500-4000 Elo.. i am only motivated more then ever to push further back in time to the days when dedicated chess computers and indeed chess itself was in its Glory


This weekend the little Novag Jade I was up for testing
a Feisty , small hand held portable ,it featured the typical Kittinger attacking Engine and was rated at 1760 Elo

i decided to unleash this little Pit bull against the gigantic Regal Saitek Renaissance board...perhaps 20 times larger in size and 50 times heavier in weight ..but outfitted with the 1812 Elo rated Maestro B6 OSA module to better match the Jade I Elo
the Maestro B6 had the same program by Julio Kaplan found in the Saitek Stratos

the Game was a Blitz 30 Minutes

In the Game the Jade was first out of book at move 11
The B6 Typically reached search depths of 5 Ply


[White "Novag Jade"]
[Black "Saitek Maestro B6"]
[TimeControl "Game 30 Minutes"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.O-O
O-O 9.Bg5 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Re8 11.Rc1 h6 12.Bf4 Bg4 13.Ndb5 Bb4


14.Nc7
[D] r2qr1k1/ppN2pp1/2n2n1p/3p4/1b3Bb1/2N3P1/PP2PPBP/2RQ1RK1 b - - 0 14

we are not even 15 moves into the Game and already the Jade is at the B6's throat
this time the Attack dog is premature though

14..Bxc3
15.Nxe8 Qxe8 16.Rxc3 Bxe2 17.Qe1 Bxf1 18.Qxf1 Qe7 19.Re3 Qd7 20.Bh3 Qd8
21.Qb5 Qb6 22.Qxb6 axb6 23.a3 d4 24.Re1 Re8 25.Rxe8+ Nxe8

[D]4n1k1/1p3pp1/1pn4p/8/3p1B2/P5PB/1P3P1P/6K1 w - - 0 26

the smoke clears and the Jade is down a pawn
The B6's two Knights outplay the Bishop pair from here on in
an instructional position where the Knight pair has more maneuverability then the Bishop's

26.f3 g5
27.Bd2 Ne5 28.Kg2 Nc4 29.Bb4 Nxb2 30.Bd7 Nf6 31.Bc8 Nd3 32.Bd2 Nc5 33.h4
gxh4 34.gxh4 Kg7 35.Bf5 Nd5 36.Kg3 Ne3 37.Bh3 Nd3 38.f4 h5 39.Kf3 Nc4
40.Ke2 Nc5 41.Bb4 d3+ 42.Kf3 Na6 43.Bc3+ Kh6 44.Bf5 d2 45.Bc2 Nxa3

[D] 8/1p3p2/np5k/7p/5P1P/n1B2K2/2Bp4/8 w - - 0 46

the B6 is up three pawns and soon will win a bishop to stop the advancing pawn
Jade was showing a PV of -4.96 here
truly magnificent endgame play for Kaplan's Knight duo

46.Bd1 Nb1 47.Bd4 Nc7 48.Bxb6 Nd5 49.Bd4 Nbc3 50.Bc2 d1=Q+ 51.Bxd1 Nxd1
52.f5 N1c3 53.Be5 b5 54.Bd6 b4 55.Bc5 Kh7 56.Bd6 b3 57.Ba3

Final Position
[D] 8/5p1k/8/3n1P1p/7P/Bpn2K2/8/8 b - - 0 57

Here the Jade offers to Resign

Regards From the Past
Steve

[Steve B]

In performing annual physical examinations of my chess computers i have always offered Corporate discounts
Today i had three former employees of Fidelity stop by the examination rooms to take advantage of this policy

The Excalibur Mirage Robot was programmed by Fidelity's Ron Nelson..containing the same exact program as the Grandmaster it was rated 1794 Elo .the Mirage was released in two flavors..the commonly seen Black Mirage and the far rarer Marble Mirage
only 10% of all Mirages released for sale were Marble

the Mirage was a self-mover using magnets under the playing surface to move the pieces

A Video of the Marble Mirage can be seen here:

http://alain.zanchetta.free.fr/videos/M ... pening.wmv

accompanying the two Mirages was the Fidelity Excellence 4.0
the Excellence normally was released running at 3 Mhz but Fidelity did release a faster 4 Mhz as well
programmed by the still happily married programming team of Dan and Kate Spracklen the 4.0 was rated 1784 with its slower version at 1755

the Excellence 4.0:
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 814993/120


i always thought that Nelson secretly harboured animosity at being replaced by the Spracklens as the lead chess programmer for Fidelity so i decided to let his Mirage's have a go at the 4.0 to perhaps exact some level of long awaited ..Revenge

i played two games with the First pitting the Black Mirage with the Black Pieces(naturally) against the 4.0 and in the second the Marble Mirage took on the Excellence with the White pieces
both games were at 30 Seconds per move avg..

one quirk about the Mirage is that the player cannot see any pondering information(PV ,anticipated lines ,etc) while the computer is ON the move..but only after its move with the player to move..somewhat strange i think

in the game the BM is first out of book at move 4
the Excellence typically reached search depths of 5 and in the endgame 6

Game One

[Round "1"]
[White "Fidelity Excellence 4.0"]
[Black "Excalibur Black Mirage"]
[TimeControl "30 sec/Avg."]
[Result "0-1*"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.e3 cxd4 5.exd4 dxc4 6.Bxc4 Bd6
7.Qg4 g6 8.Bf4 e5 9.Qe2 Bg4 10.f3 Be6 11.Bxe6 exf4 12.Bd5+ Ne7 13.Bxb7
Nd7 14.Bxa8 Qxa8 15.Nh3 Qd8 16.O-O O-O 17.Ne4 Qb6 18.Rad1 Nf5 19.Rf2 Ne3

[D] 5rk1/p2n1p1p/1q1b2p1/8/3PNp2/4nP1N/PP2QRPP/3R2K1 w - - 0 20
the Mirage is down the exchange and a pawn and showing a pv of -2.84 here ..
but it is not without compensation
its N at E3 is a bone in throat of the Excellence and White has a N wayward and out of play on H3

the next few moves will show the Fidelity strangled by the Black Night to the point where it will return the Exchange to get rid of it
20.Rd3 Rc8 21.Qe1 Bc7 22.Qc3 Qa6 23.Qb3 Bd6 24.Kh1 Rb8

[D] 1r4k1/p2n1p1p/q2b2p1/8/3PNp2/1Q1RnP1N/PP3RPP/7K w - - 0 25

25.Rxe3 !!?

the Excellence gives up its Queen for a rook and the suffocating Knight!
normally two Rooks against a Queen is more then equal but thats if the Rooks can work in tandem supporting each other on the same rank/file
here the rooks are disjointed and not easily brought together

the Mirage's assessment of the position improves to -1.8 here

25..Rxb3
26.Rxb3 Bf8 27.Nc3 Bg7 28.d5 Bd4 29.Ra3 Qd6 30.Rd2 Be3 31.Rd1 a6 32.Ne4
Qb4 33.Rxa6 Qxb2 34.Ra8+ Kg7 35.Nhg5 h6 36.Nh3 Nb6 37.Ra5 Qc2 38.Re1 Qc4
39.Rb1 Nxd5 40.a4 Nb6 41.Ra7 Nxa4 42.Nd6 Qd5 43.Rxf7+ Qxf7 44.Nxf7 Kxf7
45.Rb4 Nb6 46.Nxf4 g5 47.Nd3 Nd5 48.Ne5+ Kf8 49.Rb7 h5
50.Rh7 h4 51.Rd7 Nf4 52.Rb7 Ke8 53.Nc6 Bc5 54.Rg7 Ne6 55.Rh7 Nf4 56.Ne5
Bd6 57.Nc4 Bc5 58.Rb7 Nd3 59.Rb5 Kd7 60.Ne5+ Nxe5 61.Rxc5

[D]8/3k4/8/2R1n1p1/7p/5P2/6PP/7K b - - 0 61
the Spracklens typically superior endgame play proves too strong for Nelson's Mirage

the rest was a matter of mere technique

Kd6 62.Rb5 Ke663.h3 Kf6 64.Kg1 Nd3 65.Rb3 Nf4 66.Kf2 Ke5 67.Rb5+ Nd5
68.Ra5 Ke6 69.g3 Ke5 70.gxh4 gxh4 71.Ke1 Kd4 72.Kd2 Ne3 73.Ke2 Nd5
74.Ra4+ Ke5 75.Rxh4 Nf4+ 76.Kd2 Kf5 77.Rh8 Ng6 78.Re8 Nh4 79.Rf8+ Ke5
80.Ke3 Ng2+ 81.Kf2 Nh4 82.Kg3 Nf5+ 83.Kg4 Ne3+ 84.Kg5 Nc2 85.f4+ Kd6
86.Ra8 Kd5 87.Rd8+ Kc4 88.Rc8+ Kd3 89.Rxc2 Ke4 *

FINAL POSITION
[D] 8/8/8/6K1/4kP2/7P/2R5/8 w - - 0 90

I stopped the game here and resigned for the Mirage

Stay Tuned for Game Two Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

When one plays two dedicated computers against each other generally you have to make the moves on both boards
so to complete one full move for each side you are moving four sets of pieces
One thing nice about testing Chess Playing Robots is that you dont have to move the pieces for it!

In the Second game the Excalibur Mirage Marble has the White pieces and his Excellency 4.0 the dark pieces

in the Game this time it was the 4.0 out of book first at move 6
the Mirage typically reached search depths of 5 with the occasionally foray into 6 ply

GAME TWO..


[[Round "2"]
[White "Excalibur Mirage"]
[Black "Fidelity Excellence 4.0"]
[TimeControl "30 Sec.Avg"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 Ne4 7.Bd2 Nxd2 8.Nxd2
dxc4 9.Nxc4 Nc6 10.a3 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 b5 12.Nd2 Qd5 13.Be4 Qd6 14.a4 f5
15.axb5 fxe4 16.bxc6 Qxc6 17.Qc2 Bb7 18.Rb1 a5 19.f3 exf3 20.Nxf3 Qe4
21.Qc1 Ba6 22.Ra1 Bc4 23.Ra4 Bb5 24.Ra2 Qd5 25.Qc2

[D] r4rk1/2p3pp/4p3/pb1q4/3P4/2P1PN2/R1Q3PP/4K2R b K - 0 25

25.. Rxf3!!
Tal Himself would be proud of the Rook Sac
The Mirage delayed Castling for too long and now must pay the consequences..his position is now busted!

it was at this point that the Mirage flashed the dreaded "STALLED" message on the display screen
this message normally is the kiss of death as it means the system has malfunctioned and cannot continue moving the pieces
the only solution at that point is to press the reset switch and begin anew

however i found it just a tad too coincidental that the Mirage should conveniently STALL right after a brilliant sac by the Excellence(and once again having to admit to the superiority of the Spracklen program over the Nelson program) so i slapped the Mirage against the side of its casing ..and as i suspected... play(with a somewhat embarrassed Mirage) was able to continue...


26.gxf3 Qxf3 27.Qg2 Qxe3+ 28.Kd1 Qd3+ 29.Kc1 Qxc3+ 30.Qc2 Qxd4 31.Qxc7 Qe3+ 32.Rd2
Ba6 33.Qg3 Rc8+ 34.Kb1 Qxd2 35.Rg1 Bd3+ 36.Ka1

[D] 2r3k1/6pp/4p3/p7/8/2qb2Q1/7P/K5R1 w - - 0 37


36..Qc3+
His Excellency 4.0 announces(or rather flashes) a mate in 5 here

37.Ka2 Qc4+ 38.Ka3 Qb4+ 39.Ka2 Rc2+ 40.Ka1 Qb2# 0-1

FINAL POSITION

[D] 6k1/6pp/4p3/p7/8/3b2Q1/1qr4P/K5R1 w - - 0 41

Stalling For Time Regards
Steve