Author: Ian Osgood
Date: 09:40:49 12/06/00
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On December 06, 2000 at 08:22:23, Osorio Meirelles wrote: > > I have the Sapphire II and even though it is much slower than a PC, I believe >that any top program playing at the same speed as the Sapphire, would beat it >badly ( it looks like the Sapphire II lacks a lot of chess knowledge ). Since >it's release, I have not seen anything better. > > What happened to chess computers ? Why don't they have the best chess playing > algorithms as we have on chess playing software? ( I think if we had > versions of Tiger, Rebel , Fritz or Junior on a pressure sensory chess >computer, it would easily beat the sapphire II ). Easy: no market. Existing dedicated computers can beat 99% of chess players. The hardcore 1% would want the best anyway, which means the fastest processor, lots of RAM for hashtables, and lots of storage for endgame tables and opening books (not to mention databases and other bells and whistles). This means PC's + chess software. The high end dedicated market died when desktop computers became a) faster than 33 MHz and b) affordable and c) pervasive. At that point, it became easier to sell a $100 chess program that was stronger than a $300 or more dedicated chess computer. There might be a "boutique" market for a strong luxury dedicated computer. The TASC R30 tried to sell in this market at the end of the dedicated boom, but wasn't very successful, possibly due to its boutique prices. This market is partially met by auto-sensory boards which work with programs running on a PC. (BTW, there are dedicated computers stronger than the Sapphire. They are programmed by Lang and Morsch, and are ancestors of the modern Fritz and Genius). > I keep wanting to purchase a new chess computer, but I can't find any >significant improvement over the old ones. Is the chess computer market > being replaced by chess software ? At the cutting edge, yes. > Osorio Ian
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