Chess Challenger

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The CC1 from 1977 is considered the first commercial chess computer in the world

Chess Challenger ( CC for short ; German  "chess challenger" ) was a series of chess computers made by the American company Fidelity Electronics in the 1970s and early 1980s. The trains were human opponent using a keyboard input while the computer moves in the form "E2E4" on a red four-digit seven-segment - LED display were issued (picture) . In addition, the chess calculator had a magnetic chessboard, which (in the early models) could not recognize moves, but only served the human chess player for orientation.

Chess Challenger 1

The drive to design a chess-playing computer came from the American entrepreneur Sidney Samole. He had recently seen an episode of Starship Enterprise in which Mr. Spock was playing chess against the ship's computer, and so he decided to have something made by Fidelity .

The Chess Challenger was developed in 1976 by the then 26-year-old American electrical engineer and programmer Ron Nelson (* 1950), who was granted a patent for this (applied for on August 26, 1977, granted on November 25, 1980, see also web links ). Only later was the Chess Challenger marked with the number 1 (CC1 for short) to distinguish it from its successors. Its dimensions (L × W × H) are 205 mm × 310 mm × 28 mm. Like the later models, the CC1 used the 8-bit Z80 microprocessor from the American company Zilog , which had only recently appeared on the market . It is curious that the internationally used designations of the horizontal rows and vertical lines of the chessboard were reversed (picture) . This has been corrected from the CC3. The CC1 could only play with black and could neither castling nor the stroke en passant .

Chess Challenger 3

The CC3 also appeared in 1977. Apart from the correct designation of the rows and lines, there are hardly any differences to the CC1.

Chess Challenger 10

Just in time for the 1978 Christmas business, the CC10 came onto the market for a proud DM 698  . Compared to its predecessors, the level of play has increased significantly to around 1200 Elo points .

Chess Challenger 7

The CC7, first presented in January 1977 at Chicago's Consumer Electronics Show and released in 1979 as the successor to the CC10, hardly differed from its predecessor, with the exception of the plastic housing instead of the wooden version and the correspondingly lower price of 498 DM.

Chess Challenger Voice

The CC Voice was the first talking chess computer

Also in 1979 the CC Voice ( German  "voice" ) came onto the market for 998 DM. An exclusive feature was the world's first voice output of the computer trains.

Sensory Chess Challenger

Starting with the Sensory 8 , Sensory Voice and Champion Sensory Chess Challenger were released in 1980 . This series of devices was characterized by the new pressure sensor board, which eliminated the annoying input of movements via the keyboard. In addition, they had 64 light-emitting diodes, one in the lower left corner of each field, to display the computer moves directly on the board. The Fidelity Champion Sensory Chess Challenger was the same year in London at the inaugural Microcomputer Chess Championship ( English World Microcomputer Chess Championship ), the first "micro" world champion of chess computer history.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chess out of your pocket (part 1) - The hour of birth of the chess computer in computer chess and games (CSS), No. 6, 1996, pp. 40–41
  2. ↑ Chess out of your pocket (Part 1) - The hour of birth of the chess computer in CSS, No. 6, 1996, p. 40
  3. ↑ End of a legend in CSS, No. 5, 1998, p. 50
  4. ↑ Chess out of your pocket (Part 1) - The hour of birth of the chess computer in CSS, No. 6, 1996, p. 41
  5. ↑ Chess out of your pocket (Part 1) - The hour of birth of the chess computer in CSS, No. 6, 1996, p. 41
  6. ↑ Chess out of your pocket (Part 1) - The hour of birth of the chess computer in CSS, No. 6, 1996, p. 41