Author: Les Walker
Date: 14:30:51 09/18/98
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On September 18, 1998 at 16:11:35, John Coffey wrote: >In 1984 I purchased a Novag Super Constellation. Mine quit working a few years >ago. > >What impressed me the most about this program was the strength for its time >considering that it was only running on a 4 mhz 6502. Granted it was no >master, but the USCF gave it a rating of 2018. Those ratings given to >computers were pretty controversial, and may still be controversial today >on newer machines. > >My understanding is that it only evaluated positional ideas at the base of the >search tree. Although that is rather limited, it gave the machine a balance >of positional and tactical strength (for its time) that still probably could >beat most tournament players. It seemed especially strong at speed chess. > >I wonder if anyone has one of these that still work? I would be curious if >it still could hold its rating, and if gets totally crushed by better programs >running on machines that are hundreds of times faster. > >John Coffey I remember that machine. It was a rave when it was introduced. It's play was quite agressive. I think it would even play simple sacrifices, which plowed new ground for computers of the day. I never owned one, but I still have a Fidelity Par Excellence that was sold with a 2100 rating. Later, it was tested to be around 1900+. It has the 65C02 processor which, I believe, runs at 3 MHTZ! I also own a Fidelity Chester Challenger. It talks and says all kinds of sarcastic things while it plays. What I find most interesting, is Chester will beat the pants off of Par Excellence, often crushing it in a mating attact. I also own a Maphisto hand held, that is about 13 years old. It play around 1700ish. If anybody has a old computer, and would like to play it against any of my old machine, by email, drop me a note at sirchess@cybertours.com It's a shame your old Novag has stopped working. Best regards, Les W.
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