The Resurrection modules were released in 2005 as a new venture by a Dutch electronics and chess computer enthusiast Ruud Martin. The modules can be used in Mephisto Modular, Exclusive and Munchen boards.

The idea behind Resurrection was ambitious. It was not only to produce modules which play considerably stronger chess than any other Mephisto modules. The plan was to produce modules which could be upgraded via the internet and to contain more than one playing program. A graphic display module and other enhancements were also planned. The idea was to use the type of hardware found in Pocket PCs, to port across strong PC chess programs and to develop the software required to operate the Mephisto boards and connect to PCs.

To help make his brainchild a reality Ruud asked for enthusiasts to preorder a set of modules and to participate in the development of them. So it was that I received Resurrection  module set number 10 on 19th May 2005. The 12 guinea pigs with Resurrection modules were named the Dirty Dozen.

The first dozen module sets went to the following individuals :-
  01  Steve Blincoe
  02  Martin Slowik
  03  Holger Tacka
  04  Michael Voelschow
  05  Robert Weck
  06  Wiktor Rawik
  07  Stefan Ottow
  08  Martin Schmidmaier
  09  Karsten Bauermeister
  10 Michael Watters
  11 Claus Brauner
  12 Christian Marquardt
The initial release contained only one program, Ruffian. There followed a busy and very enjoyable period of testing, bug fixing and upgrading. In August three further programs were added, Deep Sjeng 1.8, Fruit 2.1 and Toga 1.0.

From talks with Saitek, who own the rights to the Mephisto boards, Ruud Martin decided to accept a limitation on producing only 25 sets of modules. These were either sold, or placed with those that had helped with testing, production etc by the end of August 2005. The owners at that time were:-
  13 Christian Mueller
  14 Henryk Krongraf
  15 Julius Potapczuk
  16 Bernd Baldenbach
  17 Stephan Schebitz
  18 (Keijo Tanskanen) Ruud Martin -> Steve Blincoe
  19 Tom Mirbach
  20 Bernhard Lederwasch
  21 Hans van Mierlo
  22 Rob van Son
  23 Hein Veldhuis
  24 Louis van Bever
  25 Ruud Martin
(some module sets have changed hands since)
 

Things have moved on in subsequent years. The strongest program Fruit 05 was added in September 2005 and has achieved a current Wiki Active Chess rating of Elo 2514. Well clear of all rivals. Ruud can justifiably claim the strongest dedicated chess computer crown for Resurrection.

Resurrection II has been produced which includes the graphic display module and the total limit of module sets is now 50, with 5 of those still available in 2008.  An even stronger program Rybka is now available with an Elo rating of about 2650 on this faster hardware. The project is being taken forward even further with Revelation, a wholely new purpose made chessboard. All of the latest information and news can be found on the Phoenix Chess Systems website (link).

When development of the original Resurrection module set finished this year (2008) it had reached release 2.09. My own module set was upgraded only to release 2.06, but when I started the ‘Strong’ Tournament I found a fault in the modules and now they have been mended and upgraded to release 2.09 which includes Rybka 2.2.

Each set is unique with the owners name contained on the Eprom (see above right). So my Resurrection and Munchen board certainly justify their place in this Rare feature.