The Septennial was yet another Fidelity special edition. Released to celebrate seven years in the chess computer business. It is essentially a Champion Sensory, with the CB9 openings module built in, running at 2.4 MHz rather then the original 2 MHz.

The marketing of this limited edition came in for particular criticism from Steven Schwartz of Your Move Chess And Games, America’s largest chess retailer, in his enlightening article “Pity The Poor Chess Computer Buyer”. The article was published in Computer Chess Digest 1984 but can be read on Schachcomputer.info (link). Incidentally this article goes into the subject of defect rates which subject explains by itself why some chess computers are rare today.

According to Kurt Kispert’s Rare list approximately 500 were built. The Septennial was released with the Impact Printer and can be identified as a special Champion from the Septennial stickers on the box, manual and chess computer. There is also the keyboard overlay with piece symbols next to the keys on the chessboard, which the Champion does not have.

The Septennial you see came from Ebay USA and it is in top condition.

A quirk of the Septennial is that the last part of the voice announcement is cut off if the tone is on at the same time. I have noticed this on both Septennials I have had. It is not something I have noticed on any other Fidelity (so far).