Author: Steven Edwards
Date: 19:10:37 11/08/04
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On November 08, 2004 at 13:36:47, Steve B wrote: >>Do you have any experience with the Excalibur Grandmaster? I have been thinking >>of that as a table top model. > >sure >it will play at about 1850 Elo(about 2000 USCF) despite Excalibur's claim of >2200 While 1850 Elo would be fine for the majority of casual players, isn't this a bit low given that Fidelity had comparatively strong machinery some twenty years ago? I'm not disagreeing with the estimate, but rather that any hardware offering other than the cheapest toy should be demonstratively at least expert strength. Has theer been no time spent on improving playing strength? >there are two models now available >the regular one with the green and white vinyl board which exactly simulates >boards used in USCF rated tournaments >the pieces are plastic but very large and heavy >a real joy to sit in front of and play Points to Excalibur for reproducing the typical look and feel of amatuer tournament play. >on the down side... >you cannot turn the sound off,so with each and every move there will be a >serenade of beeps and whistles Incredible. >also,to play with the black pieces you must turn the board around Annoying. >the moves the GM will play on its own from its opening book is very >limited,however you can force it manually to play a much greater variety of >openings. It seems that there has been a deliberate effort to sacrifice functionality, but for what? Cost? A slightly larger opening ROM and a modern processor wouldn't be that much extra.
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