For fans of old chess computers

[F.Huber]

Hi,

here's a new release of CB-Emu (version 3)!

I've now completely rewritten the code for the board sensors in the Fidelity Elite Avantgarde driver,
so now for these EAG modules all features work in the same way as for the other Fidelity devices -
and these functions are:

1) NEWGAME and 'Soft Reset' (in the menu) work as expected
2) 'Save/Load State' and 'Save system state on exit' now also working, i.e. the saved position is correctly restored
3) clearing the board (with PB+OPTION) and replaying the current game OPTION+TB) now also work automatically
(i.e. no additional mouseclicks necessary)

And there are small corrections or improvements in a few other files (e.g. artworks), so that you should definitely
update ALL files with these new versions if you're already using any previous CB-Emu release!

CB-Emu version 3:
http://www98.zippyshare.com/v/BPtVm99Y/file.html

Regards,
Franz

[Jeroen]

Thanks

It is a lot of fun to experiment a little bit with these oldies. For some games, see here:

http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforu ... pid=568416

[John_F]

Sorry for my ignorant question, but do these emulators replicate play exactly as the original dedicated units did? E.g. will they play the same move at the same level?

Also, I'm guessing the speed of the host computer does not affect the play of these modules? (A faster pc will not produce stronger moves)

[F.Huber]

Sorry for my ignorant question, but do these emulators replicate play exactly as the original dedicated units did? E.g. will they play the same move at the same level?

Yes, these emulations execute the code from the original ROMs, and so the behave exactly as the real devices.

Also, I'm guessing the speed of the host computer does not affect the play of these modules? (A faster pc will not produce stronger moves)

Again yes, the only exception may be the emulated Elite Avantgarde V11 with 166.33 MHz, if your computer is not fast enough to handle this high speed - you can check this by executing 'Options > Show FPS' from the menu: if it doesn't show ~100%, then your CPU is too slow for it.

Franz

[John_F]

Wow, that is awesome! Thanks so much for doing this!

[fern]

Sorry if I look as an old man incapable of doing anything right, but no matter how carefully I follow your instruction, sooner or later the engines -specially fidelity stuff- will change a piece by another.
This usually happens when you have played a good number of moves and you are convinced that at last you handle the thing, the right timing, etc, but then on a sudden the knight becomes a bishop, the bishop a pawn, etc.
Pity
In any case i have been capable of playing without problems almost all Mephisto stuff. No problems there.

Fern

[F.Huber]

CB-Emu version 3:
http://www98.zippyshare.com/v/BPtVm99Y/file.html

And here's the next improvement ...

I've now also implemented a chessboard for the 4 remaining Fidelity modules which have no sensory board (Chess Challenger 7-B and 10-B,
and Chess Challenger Voice (Advanced)), so now you don't need an external board (or program like ChessBoard.exe) anymore.

This additional chessboard is completely independent of the chess module itself (i.e. of the function keyboard on the right) - it's just for recording your game or moves (you still have to enter the coordinates manually with the right buttons or directly with the PC-keyboard).

Here's the update (only the EXE and the 4 new artwork files):
http://www116.zippyshare.com/v/kmfgEORn/file.html

Franz

[F.Huber]

Hi,

in a spanish chess forum a true artist created great artworks for the Fidelity machines - especially a very beautiful keyboard for the 4 non-sensory Fidelity machines.

I took these keyboard files, modified them a bit, added my chessboard and made new artwork files for these 4 modules -
now their emulations look even better than the real devices!

Here's the link:
http://www6.zippyshare.com/v/rz9q5rLG/file.html

Regards,
Franz

[Ferdy]

Hi,

in a spanish chess forum a true artist created great artworks for the Fidelity machines - especially a very beautiful keyboard for the 4 non-sensory Fidelity machines.

I took these keyboard files, modified them a bit, added my chessboard and made new artwork files for these 4 modules -
now their emulations look even better than the real devices!

Here's the link:
http://www6.zippyshare.com/v/rz9q5rLG/file.html

Regards,
Franz

Thanks nice stuff.

My game with Fidelity Excellence 3 at level 2. Amazing game by this computers. Is there an info about the techniques used by this programs? Perhaps this is all evaluation and move ordering. Not much pruning and reduction.

According to SSDF I think this is at 1662 rating

Code: Select all

329 Fidelity Excellence  6502 3 MHz         1662   22   -23   951   42%  1719

[pgn]
[Event "Test games"]
[Site "Home"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Me"]
[Black "Fidelity Excellence 3"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E10"]
[EventDate "2016.08.15"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 Bf5 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.e4 Bd7 10.Bd3 Bg4 11.Qa4+ Bd7 12.Qb3 b6 13.O-O Be7 14.Rae1 O-O 15.e5 dxe5 16.Nxe5 Bd6 17.f4 Bf5 18.Qc2 Bxd3 19.Qxd3 a6 20.a4 Ra7 21.Ne4 Qe7 22.Nc4 Bc7 23.Ng5 Re8 24.Qh7+ Kf8 25.Qh8# 1-0
[/pgn]

[Ferdy]

CB-Emu version 3:
http://www98.zippyshare.com/v/BPtVm99Y/file.html

And here's the next improvement ...

I've now also implemented a chessboard for the 4 remaining Fidelity modules which have no sensory board (Chess Challenger 7-B and 10-B,
and Chess Challenger Voice (Advanced)), so now you don't need an external board (or program like ChessBoard.exe) anymore.

This additional chessboard is completely independent of the chess module itself (i.e. of the function keyboard on the right) - it's just for recording your game or moves (you still have to enter the coordinates manually with the right buttons or directly with the PC-keyboard).

Here's the update (only the EXE and the 4 new artwork files):
http://www116.zippyshare.com/v/kmfgEORn/file.html

Franz

A game with Chess Challenger 10-B level 1. This one has a very nice graphics.
[pgn]
[Event "Test games"]
[Site "Home"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Me"]
[Black "Chess Challenger 10-B"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D35"]
[EventDate "2016.08.15"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 Bf5 6.Bxf6 gxf6 7.Qb3 b6 8.Qxd5 Qxd5 9.Nxd5 Nd7 10.Nxc7+ Kd8 11.Nxa8 Bb4+ 12.Kd1 Ke7 13.Nc7 Rc8 14.Nd5+ Ke6 15.Nxb4 Rc4 16.Nd3 Rxd4 17.Nf3 Rc4 18.e3 Nc5 19.Nf4+ Rxf4 20.exf4 Nd3 21.Nd4+ Kd5 22.Nxf5 Nxf2+ 23.Ke1 Nxh1 24.Bd3 a5 25.Ke2 Ng3+ 26.hxg3 a4 27.Rc1 Ke6 28.Rc7 h5 29.Be4 b5 30.Re7# 1-0
[/pgn]