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Subject: Re: Novag Star Diamond or Excalibur Grandmaster ?

Author: steven blincoe

Date: 15:23:26 05/16/03

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Hi Trevor

i dont own a Star Diamond but i do own the GM
the GM is a pure joy to sit down in front of and play
with the vinyl green amd white buff squares and the full sized tournament board
it captures the feel of real tournament play

in my opinion it is about 1850 ELO (2000 USCF)although the company does claim it
to be rated higher

full information display ,and heavy plastic pieces(the same kind used in
tournaments)make the  street price of about $170 hard to beat

small drawbacks:

1)you cannot silence the various beeping noises made with every move or option
key press
2)to play black you must turn the board around(there is no option to play black
from bottom)

significant drawback:
while the computer does have a large built-in opening book,the computer will
respond with a very limited opening book on its own
in order to get more varied opening play ,the user needs to force the computer
to play a different opening(either by entering manual mode,or taking back the
computers moves until you get a different opening)

all in all the GM is very hard to beat at that price!

Regards
Steve





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