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Subject: Re: GrandMaster by Excalibur

Author: Nick Wilson

Date: 03:13:17 10/09/03

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On October 08, 2003 at 09:07:14, Alan Grotier wrote:

>On October 07, 2003 at 13:53:51, Nick Wilson wrote:
>
>>On October 07, 2003 at 09:19:12, Alan Grotier wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>  Auto-sensory tournament board & tournament pieces. Rated around 2200.
>>>  Seems a good buy for under $200.00.
>>>
>>>  Anyone have experience with this unit?...........Alan
>>
>>I have one. The board is good - just like a plastic tournament board, and larger
>>than most wooden auto sensory boards.
>>
>>But, the program is pretty poor. I played mine against an old Excel A/S Mk4 and
>>it lost all three games. It was outplayed - it really deserved to lose all 3,
>>i.e. it wasn't just bad luck. I wouldn't expect it to win any had I played more
>>games.
>>
>>I'd rate it around 1800 or so.
>>
>>Nick
>
>    Nick, Thanks for the info. Do you play against it? If so what do you think?
>
>   Alan

Hi,

I played a few games against it at quite fast time settings (either 5min/game or
5 sec/move) and I beat it more often than I lost. I'm 1900ish.

My general impression is that its a really nice board combined with the cheapest
chess program/processor possible in order to keep the price down. Maybe someone
here knows the program used but it did feel dated, and often lost because of the
horizon effect (i.e. just failed to see the end move of a longish combo). Maybe
this is because of the fastish times I used, but I don't recall any other recent
computers suffering so badly when played like this.

The menu options were a bit awkward to use and the 4 digit display is a let down
if you are used to the multi character ones on the Mephisto auto-sensory boards.

But if you are less than 1800 then it'll be fun, as it won't thrash you
everytime you play like all the PC programs do...

Nick



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