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Subject: Collector's Corner..The Ultra Rare TSB 4 La Regence

Author: Steve B

Date: 09:42:05 11/13/05


Considered by  knowledgeable collectors as one of the top 5 rarest computers
ever released for sale ,the La Regence was one of the last computers released by
Applied Concepts before it went belly up

very little literature exists on the TSB 4 but it did manage to receive a rating
of 1460 Elo

released in 1983 with a 6502 processor running at 2.5  Mhz with 12k Rom and 48k
Ram
it had an opening book of 4000 moves ..i am not certain which program was in it
but i think it was the Sargon 2.5

the computer is a tournament sized  wooden auto-sensory board with a two-tiered
highly unique  layering of wood
the playing surface is raised from the base of the board yielding a "platform"
type of effect

legend has it that only 10 were made and sold
this one is number 6

photos of it can be seen here
click on the" Applied Concepts" Album and its the first 5 photos:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cpaa2@sbcglobal.net/my_photos


Feeling a bit lucky and wanting to test it to make sure its in tip top condition
i  decided to lock horns with this rare bird for a game 30 minutes
there is no actual level like this so i played on the level closest to it(30 sec
per move avg)

in the game the TSB was out of book by move 5 and typically achieved  ply
count's  of 4-5 in most positions

to the best of my knowledge, this is the first game ever shown on the Net for
the TSB 4
as is usual in these sorts of situations the human takes white:

[Site "Under Ground Bunker"]
[Date "2005.11.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Steve B"]
[Black "TSB 4 La Regence"]
[TimeControl "Game 30 min"]
[Result "1-0"]


1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Bd3 e6 6.Bxf5 exf5
7.cxd5 Qxd5 8.Nc3 Bb4 9.a3 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 Nbd7 11.O-O O-O 12.Bb2 Rfe8
13.Rc1 Qc4 14.Nd2 Qd5 15.c4 Qd6 16.Qc2 Ng4 17.Nf3 Re4 18.Qc3

[D] r5k1/pp1n1ppp/2pq4/5p2/2PPr1n1/P1Q1PN2/1B3PPP/2R2RK1 b - - 0 18
setting up the Q-B mating battery which could come in handy later


18..Ndf6 19.h3 Nh6 20.Ne5 Rh4 21.f3 Rd8 22.Rfd1 g6 ???

[D] 3r2k1/pp3p1p/2pq1npn/4Np2/2PP3r/P1Q1PP1P/1B4P1/2RR2K1 w - - 0 23

his honor the TSB is oblivious to the coming onslaught and actually assists in
its own demise
my how i love this old babies of yesteryear
:)

23.d5 cxd5 24.Rxd5 !

[D] 3r2k1/pp3p1p/3q1npn/3RNp2/2P4r/P1Q1PP1P/1B4P1/2R3K1 b - - 0 24

ripping open the Black position .
probably not a forced win yet but i was relying on the Q-B battery and the low
ply count of the TSB to win the game for me

24..Nxd5 25.cxd5 Qxd5???

the final blunder
almost anything else is better such as Qf6

26.Nxg6!!
[D] 3r2k1/pp3p1p/6Nn/3q1p2/7r/P1Q1PP1P/1B4P1/2R3K1 b - - 0 26
A bone breaking,spine cracking ,game ending,fatal blow

did i fail to mention it was a violent ,shocking ,devastating move?

what follows is an example of the "Horizon effect" typical of chess programs of
its day
the computer will make any move to push the mate outside of its search horizon

of course ..26 Rd4 would be better here but of course all is lost for black
anyway


26..Qd1+ 27.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 28.Kh2 Rxh3+ 29.gxh3 Ng4+ 30.hxg4 f6 31.Qxf6
Rd2+ 32.Kg3 f4+ 33.Kxf4 Rd4+ 34.Bxd4 hxg6 35.Qg7# 1-0

FINAL POSITION:
[D] 6k1/pp4Q1/6p1/8/3B1KP1/P3PP2/8/8 b - - 0 35

Bring on Fruit Or Zappa!
Lets Rock Regards
Steve



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