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

[Steve B]

Larrys urgent appeal for help with his Novag Ruby this morning forced me to take it down from the shelves so i though i might as well give it its annual checkup while i still had it "spread eagle" open upon on my desk

the Ruby of course has a Kittinger engine and was rated 1889(SS):

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 1815850/42

its opponent is the very controversial Mephisto Monte Carlo IV Limited Edition(LE)
controversial because it must be the largest selling "Limited Edition "of all time
almost every collector i know has it and i think it was only "limited" to anyone who wanted to buy one


actually i think there were more LE's sold then regular Monte Carlo IV's or even Monte Carlo I's

the normal MCIV ran at 4 Mhz and the only difference in the MCIV LE is that it runs at twice the clock speed at 8 Mhz
both have the same exact engine by Ed Schröder
the MCIV was rated 1884(SS) so with a doubling of the clock speed it should be solidly in the Mid 1900's:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 779060/114

the time control was 30sec/avg and i gave the white pieces to the MCIV LE


in the game the MCIV LE reached typical search depths of 6 ply and was out of book first at move 7 while the Ruby also reached 6 plies on avg

[White "Monte Carlo IV LE"]
[Black "Novag Ruby"]
[TimeControl "30Sec/avg."]
[Result "1-0"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.g3 d5 8.Bg2
dxe4 9.Nb5 Bxe3 10.Nxc7+ Kf8 11.O-O Rb8 12.fxe3 Qe5 13.Qb3 f5
14.Nb5 Be6 15.Qa4 Qc5 16.Nd4 Bf7 17.Bxe4

[d] 1r3k1r/pp2nbpp/2n5/2q2p2/Q2NB3/2P1P1P1/PP5P/RN3RK1 b - - 0 17
White last move sacking the Bishop is a nice surprise and certainly not a typical move for a Schroder program which is not typically known to be a ferocious attacking engine but rather has its strength in positional play
actually it is the Kittinger attack engine that typically finds moves like these and i double checked the position to make sure i had the proper engines making the proper moves
the Bishop of course cannot be taken as white has 18.Ne6+ forking the Black Queen

17..Qb6 ??
the Ruby simply does not recognize that it is in dire straits here...and decides to embark on an ill conceived pawn grabbing escapade for white/s b2 pawn
.17..g6 is needed to protect the F5 Pawn



18.Nxf5 Qxb2 19.Nxe7 Kxe7 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Qxa7+ Qb7 22.Qc5+ Ke8 23.Qe5+
Kf8 24.Nd2 Qa7

25.Rxf7+!
[d] 1r3k1r/q4Rpp/2p5/4Q3/8/2P1P1P1/P2N3P/R5K1 b - - 0 25

the final punishing blow

the Ruby RESIGNED here showing a pv of-7.87 with the MCIVLE showing a pv of +8.15

A Nice attacking game for Schroder's Engine
Steve

[Steve B]

Continuing with the never ending thankless job of testing ..
Today a real Collectors Item stumbled into my examination rooms

The Fidelity USCF Special Edition(SE)
released in 1984 it was offered exclusively to the then current members of the United States Chess Federation(USCF) and hence its name
Fidelity every early on Supported the USCF and still does today through Excalibur Electronics
the computer was rated in the mid 1600's and contained an improved version of the CSC program by the Spracklens
it was sold "bundled " with the Impact printer

notice how although the program is in the typical CSC wooden housing the squares are White-Green instead of the normal White-Brown
this was done to simulate the colors of the typical vinyl board used even today in rated USCF weekend chess tournaments
Excalibur continues with this idea today in their Grandmaster computer :
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 6776540/61

i matched the USCF up against the Saitek Renaissance program
without an added module the program built into the board was rated 1730(SS) and was programmed by Julio Kaplan

the time control was game 30 minutes

In the game the USCF had the White pieces and was out of book by move 4 it typically searched 4-5 ply deep
the Ren also searched 4-5 ply averaging about 225 positions per second

[White "Fidelity USCF SE"]
[Black "Saitek Renaissance"]
[TimeControl "Game 30 Min.]
[Result "1-0"]

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 dxc4 4.Qa4+ Bd7 5.Qxc4 c5 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Bh3 Nf6
8.O-O Na5 9.Qf4 Be7 10.Bg2 Bc6 11.d3 O-O 12.Bd2 Qd6
13.Qxd6 Bxd6 14.Bg5 Kh8 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.Rac1 Rfd8 17.Ne4 Bxe4 18.dxe4
Rd7 19.e3 b6 20.Rfd1 Rad8 21.Rd2 a6 22.Rcd1 Nc4 23.Rc2 Ne5 24.Nxe5

Bxe5 25.Rxd7 Rxd7 26.Bf1 Rd1 27.f4 Bc7 28.Kf2 a5 29.Be2 Rh1
30.h4

30...Rh2+????
[d] 7k/2b2p1p/1p2pp2/p1p5/4PP1P/4P1P1/PPR1BK1r/8 w - - 0 31


in a drawn bishops of opposite color endgame ,with both sides having doubled pawns the Ren spews forth a blunder of historic proportions
the Ren was not even short of time here
the Rook will now be trapped by the White King and this just loses the Exchange and the game for no reason

31.Kg1 Rxe2 32.Rxe2 b5 33.Rd2 Bb6 34.Rd6 Ba7 35.Ra6 Bb8
36.Ra8 *

FINAL POSITION
[d]Rb5k/5p1p/4pp2/ppp5/4PP1P/4P1P1/PP6/6K1 b - - 0 36

its over..
the Ren was showing a PV of -5.03 and the USCF +7.00

i could have played it out to the bitter end but i reasoned as follows..
if Kaufman & co. can let the clearly exhausted Ehlvest off the hook after only 13 moves with a "Mercy" draw in game 4 of the last match against Rybka.. i certainly can call this a win for the USCF here

Blast From The Past Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

Some what alarmed that the lower rated USCF SE could make such fodder out of the Renaissance Basic Program i elected to give the Ren a
second chance against another highly collectible computer

The Fidelity Septennial..
released in 1984 to commemorate 7 years since Fidelity's release of the Chess Challenger .. and hence its name
like the USCF SE it is mid 1600's in strength and programmed by the Spracklens
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 6786774/64

another 30 min game this time giving the White pieces to the hapless Ren Basic program

in the game the Ren was out book first at move 11
the Sept searched typically 4-5 plies

[White "Saitek Renaissance"]
[Black "Fidelity Septennial"]
[TimeControl "Game/30 Min"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5
Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5 10.c3 d4 11.cxd4 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 Qxd4 13.Bxe6 Nxe6 14.Nf3 Qxd1 15.Rxd1 Bc5 16.Ng5 O-O 17.Bd2 Bd4 18.Bb4 c5 19.Rxd4 Nxd4 20.Bxc5 Rfd8 21.Bxd4 Rxd4 22.e6 fxe6 23.Nxe6

[d] r5k1/6pp/p3N3/1p6/3r4/8/PP3PPP/R5K1 b - - 0 23

amazingly the Ren Basic finds itself once again behind material this time as White
here it is down the exchange
notice how efficiently the Septennial handles the Rooks from here..penetrating to the 2nd rank ..Classical Spracklen endgame technique



23.Rd2 24.Nc7 Ra7 25.Ne6
Rxb2 26.Nc5 Rc7 27.Nd3 Rd2 28.Ne1 Kf7 29.Kf1 Kf6 30.Nf3 Rb2 31.Nd4 Rc4 32.Rd1 Rxa2 33.Nf3 Rcc2 34.Kg1 Rxf2 35.Nh4 g5 36.Nf3 Rxg2+ 37.Kh1 g4 38.Ne1 Rxh2+ 39.Kg1 Rhe2 40.Nd3 Rg2+ 41.Kf1 h5 42.Rc1 a5 43.Rc6+ Kf5 44.Rb6 b4 45.Rb5+ Ke4 46.Nc1 Raf2+ 47.Ke1 g3 48.Ne2

[d]8/8/8/pR5p/1p2k3/6p1/4Nrr1/4K3 b - - 0 48
the Septennial announces a mate in 4!


48.Rxe2+ 49.Kd1 Ref2 50.Rxb4+ axb4 51.Ke1 Rg1# 0-1


FINAL POSITION


[d]8/8/8/7p/1p2k3/6p1/5r2/4K1r1 w - - 0 52

Total annihilation of the Kaplan Ren Basic by the famous husband-wife programming duo ..

Shades Of Adams v. Hydra Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

The News spread quickly throughout the chess computer world that old fidelity chess computers were having thier way with the Ren baisc program

indeed a quick glance through the window of my examination rooms and i could see a long line of rare Fidelity's lined up eager to get a piece of the Ren

as i wanted to continue testing the Ren modules i quietly and under the cover of darkness slipped the D10++ module into the board

this baby is rated 1923(SS) and programmed by Julio Kaplan:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 6880970/64


an excellent analysis of the D++ program can be seen here in CCC Moderator Thorsten Czub's web site:

http://www.thorstenczub.de/dplus.html


opening up the examination rooms for the day ..sure enough ..in walks another rare Fidelity
this time it was the legendary Upgraded Champion (UC)

in 1983 Fidelity offered CSC owners an upgrade to the Champion replacing the program with an improved SC9 program running at 2 Mhz and with the CB9 book module built in
for $100 owners would send in their Champions and have the upgrade performed at the Fidelity factories in Miami and then shipped back
the upgrade rated at 1650 Elo proved to be much stronger then the SC9 or the program in the CSC so in the following year(1984) Fidelity released it in its own housing...the Super 9 and Super 9 Deluxe :

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 6786555/45

to conceal the fact that the Ren was no longer going Basic but rather locked and loaded with the D10 (and therefore almost 300 points stronger then the UC) i covered the keyboard and module with the wooden panel that can be closed over it

same time control as usual..Game 30 Minutes
the UC had White

in the Game the D10 was out of book first at move 4
both computers searched typically 5 ply

[White"Fidelity Champion-Upgrade"]
[Black "Saitek D10++"]
[TimeControl "Game/30Min"]
[Result "0-1"]

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.b3 Nf6 4.g3 Bf5 5.d4 e6 6.Bf4 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Na6

8.Bxb4 ?? Nxb4

[d] r2qk2r/pp3ppp/2p1pn2/3p1b2/1nPP4/1P3NP1/P3PP1P/RN1QKB1R w KQkq - 0 9

Whites 8th move was terrible and after the next several moves its position is busted

to be fair to the UC ..when i set the level to 1 Minute per move it does switch away from 8.Bxb4 and it chooses the more reasonable developing move.. 8.e3

White is of course concerned about black checking with the N at c2 so we have


9.Na3 Qa5

and the game for all intent and purposes is now.. over...
[d] r3k2r/pp3ppp/2p1pn2/q2p1b2/1nPP4/NP3NP1/P3PP1P/R2QKB1R w KQkq - 0 10


10.Qd2 Ne4 11.g4 Nxd2 12.Nxd2 Qxa313.gxf5
Nc2+ 14.Kd1 Nxa1 15.fxe6 fxe6 16.cxd5 Qxa2 17.Ke1 Nc2+ 18.Kd1 Nxd4 19.Ke1 Qa1+ 20.Nb1 Qxb1+ 21.Kd2 Qb2+ 22.Ke3
Qxb3+ 23.Kd2 Qxd5 24.f3 Nxf3+ 25.Kc1 Ne5 26.Bg2 Qxg2 27.Rd1 Qxe2 28.Rd2
Nd3+ 29.Kc2 Nb4+ 30.Kc3 Qe3+ 31.Kb2 Qxd2+ 32.Kb3 a5


[d] r3k2r/1p4pp/2p1p3/p7/1n6/1K6/3q3P/8 w kq a6 0 33

here the D10 announces a mate in 3

33.Kc4 Qe3 34.h4 b5#
0-1

FINAL POSITION


[d] r3k2r/6pp/2p1p3/pp6/1nK4P/4q3/8/8 w kq b6 0 35

the news of the crushing defeat spread just as quickly and by the time the UC got dressed to leave a quick glance out of the widow this time revealed nothing more then my lawn(which needed mowing)

Nuff Of That Noise Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

happy and relieved that the Saitek D10 held back the tide of rare Fidelity's appearing at my door step i was finally given an opportunity to allow
a more modern computer to step into the examination rooms to get its annual checkup

appropriately named ..the Mephisto Modena is rather unique in that it is the only Mephisto to contain this particular program from Franz Morsch
rated 1901(SS) it also has a special BOOK key /feature not commonly seen in many other Mephisto computers with the Laptop design(although some do have it..not many do)
if the book key is pressed and held when turning on the computer then the player can peer into the entire book by repeated pressings of the book key
while this can of course be accomplished in other Mephisto computers in a more roundabout method..this is a nice feature to have

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cpaa2@sbcgl ... 806795/123

i have seen some reference elsewhere on the net discussing the possibility that this program in the Modena is the same as Morcsh's CXG Sphinx Dominator program...as i have not compared the two i cannot say if this is so with any degree of certainty.. but i tend to doubt it

this post is a bit different in that i will not be showing a full game but only part of one

it is still of some interest because it illustrates the crucial importance of a good opening book

i matched the Modena against the same D10++ still in the Ren board
both are very close in rating so it seemed a good match up

in the game the Modena had White and typically reached 5-6 ply
time control ..Game /30 minutes

[White "Mephisto Modena"]
[Black "Saitek D10++"]
[TimeControl "Game 30Min."]


1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6
7.Bg2 Be7 8.O-O O-O 9.Bg5 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Re8

[d] r1bqr1k1/pp2bppp/2n2n2/3p2B1/3N4/2N3P1/PP2PPBP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 11
BOTH computers were in book up to here..
with its eleventh move the Modena is now out of book and to its credit it finds the next TEN moves on its own..and all in the D10's book!



11.e3 h6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Nxd5
Bxd4 14.exd4 Be6 15.Re1 Bxd5 16.Rxe8+ Qxe8 17.Bxd5 Rd8 18.Qh5 Nxd4
19.Bxb7 Rb8 20.Qd5 20...Qa4 *

[d] 1r4k1/pB3pp1/7p/3Q4/q2n4/6P1/PP3P1P/R5K1 w - - 0 21

the D10 is finally out of book!!

a truly fine showing by the Modena.. to on its own ..come up with 10 theory moves and all at a rather fast time control

however for its efforts it is rewarded with the huge disadvantage of now having used up a full ten minutes while the D10 has used NO time at all
leaving the Mephisto only 20 minutes to complete the game against the D10's full 30 minutes..an enormous disadvantage
especially if we were playing this game for an Active Chess Rating(Game 30 min)

luckily in this game the minor pieces were quickly exchanged leaving a rather listless Q+R vs Q+R endgame that eventually drifted into a draw by repetition

Books Are Important Too Regards
Steve
PS..Thanks Terry

[Terry McCracken]

http://216.25.93.108/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 0&start=50

From there to Here! Glad to see you moved it to the correct forum!

Anytime Regards,
Terry

[Steve B]

http://216.25.93.108/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 0&start=50

From there to Here! Glad to see you moved it to the correct forum!

Anytime Regards,
Terry

Thanks again
this is waay to confusing for an old timer like me

Seeing Double Regards
Steve

[Terry McCracken]

http://216.25.93.108/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 0&start=50

From there to Here! Glad to see you moved it to the correct forum!

Anytime Regards,
Terry

Thanks again
this is waay to confusing for an old timer like me

Seeing Double Regards
Steve

I'm as old as you are

But I made a deal with Father Time

Forever Young Regards,
Terry

[Robert Weck]

Hi Steve,

i have seen some reference elsewhere on the net discussing the possibility that this program in the Modena is the same as Morcsh's CXG Sphinx Dominator program

I think, i am one of those; the Dominator has a few (very unique!) bugs, some of them can also be found in the Modena (e.g. the long-castling bug) and plays sometimes the same unbelievable blunders as the Dominator!

Look here: Move nr. 33, which converts an absolutely won position in a loss within a few moves, is also played by the Modena! the evaluation is a little different, so it is surely no clone, but it could be a newer version (maybe 2.06?)

The Sphinx Commander contains the Dominator 2.00 program.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2005.11.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sphinx Commander, lv d6 30m"]
[Black "Super Expert B 6, lv c5 30m"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E08"]
[Annotator "Weck,Robert"]
[PlyCount "70"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 {*} c6 {*}
8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bf4 Ne4 10. Nbd2 {0,37} Ndf6 {0,23} 11. Nxe4 dxe4 12. Nd2 Bf5
13. e3 Qd5 14. Rfc1 Bg6 15. Nc4 Nh5 16. Be5 c5 17. dxc5 Rad8 18. Bd6 {1,48}
Bxd6 {0,93} 19. Nxd6 Nf6 20. Qb3 {1,61} Qe5 {1,16} 21. Nxb7 {2,35} Rd2 {1,60}
22. Nd6 {2,88} Rd5 23. Qc3 Qh5 24. Qa3 {2,89} a5 {1,35} 25. c6 Rd3 26. b3 Ne8
27. Nxe4 Nc7 28. Nc5 {4,23} Rd2 {2,60} 29. Qxa5 Qe2 30. Rf1 {4,71} Ne6 {3,64}
31. Nxe6 fxe6 32. c7 Bf5 {3,81} 33. Bf3?? {5,56}

[d]5rk1/2P3pp/4p3/Q4b2/8/1P2PBP1/P2rqP1P/R4RK1 b - - 0 33

Can you believe this move? And the Modena also plays it (with a slightly different evaluation)

Qxf3 {3,59} 34. Rac1 {-1,22}
Be4 35. Qa3 Qg2# 0-1

It was not me, who found the relationship between these two; another collector (sorry, i can't remember his name) found their BT2450 results to be very close and wrote his suspicion in a forum.


regards,
Robert

[Steve B]

Look here: Move nr. 33, which converts an absolutely won position in a loss within a few moves, is also played by the Modena! the evaluation is a little different, so it is surely no clone, but it could be a newer version (maybe 2.06?)

[d]5rk1/2P3pp/4p3/Q4b2/8/1P2PBP1/P2rqP1P/R4RK1 b - - 0 33

Can you believe this move? And the Modena also plays it (with a slightly different evaluation)


It was not me, who found the relationship between these two; another collector (sorry, i can't remember his name) found their BT2450 results to be very close and wrote his suspicion in a forum.

hi Robert

well you mention it is no clone which was my only point in writing my comment

you know i cannot read the Wiki site perfectly as it is written and when i use the translation program it is not doing a good job for me so i did not understand that it was already said it was no exact clone but only very similar
if i was to be born again i would INSIST my parents taught me German for my future life


i will test the position on my Dominator(2.04) and Modena

i realize this is not exactly the same as playing a full game and then waiting to see what move is selected but still...i can watch the displays to see if the move lists are similar regardless if the move is actually played

Language Impaired Regards
Steve