Chess computers...Does anyone use them anymore?

Hi, using a combination of a raspberry pi to run a chess engine(stockfish) and an arduino to control the board it is not too difficult to build a full size wooden chess computer. See www.chess.fortherapy.co.uk The result a chess game where your pieces are sensed by reed switches and the board indicates it moves by LED and a variable playing strength up to 2900

no

Me neither.

I still have my Radio Shack 2150L that helped me get a game published in Chess Life in GM Alburt's column back in '97 (The Mickey Mouse cover issue ) . Haven't played it in years though.

Computer chess sets--yes, I remember those!  I cut my teeth on my Dad's Radio Shack Tandy chess computer.  This was a tiny little thing with pieces that had pegs in the bottom of them to hold them in their squares.  You entered your moves on a keyboard of sorts.  

Later, when I was a teen, I saved up either my paper route money or my McDonald's money (I can't remember which now) and bought a Kasparov Turbo Trainer for about $200 CAD. On this machine, you simply pressed down with the piece on the square that you were moving from, and pressed down on the square that you were moving to.  Coordinating lights enabled you to see the computer's moves.  This set had no display, though.  I always coveted the "next model up," which did have an LCD display.  I do remember how happy I was when I won my machine on one of the lowest levels, though!  

There was a Saitek flyer with this set that showed other computer chess sets, and I used to spend hours pouring over it, my eyes most especially desiring the Renaissance wooden set with a hidden LCD display panel!  The Renaissance, if I remember correctly, had four LED lights for each square!  It was a very classy set, a precursor, or sorts, to today's DGT boards.  Alas, it was far out of my price range then, and it's even farther out of my price range now!

I got lucky some years ago, when I was able to get a Fidelity Phantom machine that moved its own pieces.  The thing is absolutely massive, though, so it stays in the closet most of the time.  Truthfully, I've only used it a bit, but it is fun each time.

Nowadays, it's possible to get many chess computers that once cost a fortune on eBay for a fraction of the price--including my Kasparov machine.  But if you ever want a Renaissance, you'll have to fork out quite a bit.

Coming after my long comment, I had to laugh at this one!  GarryKasparov7 is completely right: they are obsolete.  My chess.com interface on my phone (or on my computer) provides a more aesthetic user interface, a far stronger engine, and access to games with real people--and all without the need for an extra machine.  That said, I know there are many people who collect vintage chess computers--not as chess trainers, per se, but as elements of a collection.

I have an old Chess Challenger standalone chess computer out in the garage. No idea whether it could still functiion if I applied the correct power supply.

It was quite the thing in its day. I was stunned that it always made legal moves!

Once you learned a trap, it would fall for it all the time.

You could bypass the Opening Book by setting up the starting position as "A Problem." Strange how the opening played out this way, entirely different.

Big Noo........

Holy crap that Fidelity Phantom is awesome! It's like playing versus a ghost.

As you can tell from my nickname - Autosensory boards is the s-h-i-t.

Beautyful wooden pieces in front of you, just press stop to pause and continue later or another day - nothing to boot like a Windows computer that take a minute.

Nothing compares in my view.

I got hold of a Scicys Leonardo, which later became Saitek Gallileo/Renaissance and bought a fresh new set Staunton pieces, and bought magnets that I am to install into these. Original pieces did not look or feel really good.

I also made an serial interface(cannot get those adapters anymore) that connects to computer so I can run such an engine as well If I want to - possibly beating the basic engine. Or just for printing out the games you have stored on the board.

Want to run a particular opening, just press a analyze button and make your moves from opening - and then return to normal and play computer from there, really neatly implemented.

Novag Citrine have the universal board which has leds on all corners, which is a major flaw is missing on the DGT boards currently made.

Mephisto Exclusive boards seems to be those that are available with various modules and stuff.

But is the sellers market, kind of, since all manufacturers closed down 2014. Revelation II seems cool, but silly expensive.

I bought a small hand held ( a Saitek or SciSys I think) around 1984. Quite a basic machine. I was very enthusiastic playing it until I discovered that it didn't do promotions!! I was very disappointed and gave up playing it. 

Any one else have a similar experience.

Re post #33.

From what I can discover on the web it was a Saitek Pocket Plus Trainer. The link gives full details plus photo.

http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php?title=Saitek_Pocket_Plus_Trainer

Hi AutoSensory,

sounds very cool.

Are there details to your project available on the web, so that I could do the same for my chess computer? 

thanks!

I’m resurrecting this thread. 

YES! Dedicated Chess Computers are still relevant. Thanks to Millennium, they’ve been bringing these machines back to the market. They have something for everyone starting from affordable plastic versions for beginners to beautiful, wooden computers with icee recognition and updated engines. More importantly, the high-end machines can be connected to PCs and are able to access supported chess engines apps on smartphones and tablets such as Hiarcs using their ChessLink accessory. 

Here is their upcoming offering scheduled for September 2019!

https://computerchess.com/en/the-king-performance-2/

There’s also the Kickstarter chess computer called SquareOff which works with a smartphone app so you can play remotely and work on a physical board while your opponent uses the 2D app or one’s own SquareOff computer wherever they may be. Mechanically it works similarly to the vintage Mephisto/Excalibur Phantom machines.

https://squareoffnow.com

I'm using a Certabo board - it interfaces with a  computer and software allowing you to play otb with chess.com and the other major free site has just been released. I used my Certabo board to play a game last night..

I haven't used one in over 30 years. Would like to find another one, but living in a small town none are available. Don't remember the name of the one I used to have; it was nice, though.

I read that the SquareOff machine interfaces with chess.com. Something that DGT is still struggling with. That’s another Plus for the new physical chess computers!