Sale & Swap 2012

The Sale and Swap for 2012 is now over. There will be another starting in late March 2013.

Sold - Novag Diamond II, Conchess A0/A1 modules, Mephisto Nigel Short,
SciSys Chess Champion Super System IV, SciSys Chess Partner 6000, SciSys Courier V,
Saitek Blitz, Conchess Monarch, Tasc R30, Fidelity Chess Challenger (CC1),
Fidelity Elite Avant Garde V2, Fidelity Elite Avant Garde 2100 and Great Game Machine.

Conchess A0 and A1 Modules

The Conchess range came to the market in the middle of that period when upgradeability was seen as important. Following the success of Ulf Rathsman’s new Princhess program at the Glasgow World Microcomputer Chess Championship in September 1984 Conchess did offer an upgrade. This took the form of a new cartridge (A1) with a completely rewritten and faster chess program incorporating the extended opening book from the Library (L0) cartridge, plus new levels and features. The standard program cartridge (A0) had to be returned to the factory for minor modification so that the A0 and A1 could work together. The upgrade price was £69.99 in the UK (£200 at 2012 values). Claims at the time were for a rating increase from the standard program’s 1750 to 1902 Elo. In fact Selective Search magazine currently has A0 at 1426 and the upgrade at 1658 Elo.

I have a pair of A0 and A1 cartridges for sale. They have been tested and function correctly eg they recognise draw by three-fold repetition, which the standard program does not

As far as I am aware no A0 + A1 modules have been offered for sale on Ebay or on the message boards so it is difficult to name a price.

SOLD

Mephisto Nigel Short

You can read about the Mephisto Nigel Short in the ‘Rare’ section of this website (link). They were only sold in the UK and are rarely seen elsewhere. Rated at 1970 Elo (Source - Selective Search magazine) the Nigel Short has an Ed Schroder program, one of the strongest 8 bit chess programs ever written.

The chess computer for sale is in excellent condition and is functioning perfectly. It comes with the box and cardboard packaging, manual and all five sets of chesspieces, each with spare queens. So it is as complete and original an example of this rare Mephisto model as you are likely to find.

SOLD on Ebay (Price - £200)


	Novag Savant II Another chess computer from my ‘Rare’ list. For more information on this model follow this (link). The Savant II for sale comes as you see it, without a power supply. A 8.5V universal adaptor with a positive centre jack would be sufficient if you were feeling lucky. Not Sold



			Fisher - Spassky Game 6 Reykjavik 1972


					Applied Concepts Great Game Machine + Morphy Module The Great Game Machine is a classic chess computer from the early 1980s. As well as Chess you can get Draughts (Checkers), Blackjack and Reversi/Othello modules that work with it. For Chess there’s Sargon 2.5 (or Boris 2.5), Morphy and Steinitz modules, and Morphy also works with additional opening and endgame modules, the Gruenfeld and Capablanca. The GGM first appeared in 1981, ‘The age of upgrades’, when having a strong program was important enough to encourage wild Elo claims and upgradeability was a major selling point. GGM + Morphy is rated at 1472 Elo (Source - Selective Search). This GGM is in good fully working condition. It comes with the box, cardboard inner box, power adaptor (US type), manual (in English), (copy manual in German also available), the chess pieces and Morphy Edition Master Chess module. SOLD (Price - £100)


	SciSys Chess Partner 6000 The Chess Partner 6000 seems to be exceptionally rare. Until 2008 there were no examples in collections published on the internet, nor to my knowledge had anyone in the chess computer community actually seen one. You can read more about it in an article by chess computer historian Hein Veldhuis (link). With my particular interest in SciSys I spotted a 6000 and since then two more have been sold on Ebay. Two of the three I have and the other is in the safe hands of Eric Belot (link). There will of course be more to be found, most likely in the UK, but how many more? As it stands this is one of the rarest chess computers around. Like the other SciSys Chess Partners, the Chess Partner 6000 is a simple machine of very limited strength and features intended for the mass market. It boasts only four levels of play and a press sensory board. In common with several other SciSys models it uses a Hitachi HD44801 4 bit singlechip running at 0.4 MHz with 2KB of program ROM and 64 bytes of RAM and Mark Taylor’s (+David Levy) 4 bit chess program. The Chess Partner 6000 for sale is in good fully working condition. It has featured in my ‘Rare’ section for the past four years. It comes with the box, chess pieces and manual (in English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish) and uses 3 x AA batteries (not included). Hard to put a price on, but any realistic offer will be considered. SOLD


		SciSys Courier V The Courier V is a very rare version of the SciSys Travel Mate II. Few have found their way into collections and only two have appeared on Ebay. They were distributed mainly or exclusively in France. This one is in good fully working condition. It is in fact the one shown in the Rare and SciSys sections of the website where you will find some more photos (link). It comes with a copy of the manual (in French). Attempts in the 2011 Sale & Swap to swap the Courier V for something on my wish list drew a blank so this time any realistic offer will be considered. SOLD




		SciSys Chess Champion Super System IV You can also read about the Super System IV in the ‘Rare’ section of this website (link). They were only sold for a brief period in 1981 before being superseded by the World Championship winning Mark V. Therefore there are not many around and even fewer fully working with the box. The IV is somewhat stronger than the Super System III, that it replaced, which is currently rated at 1127 Elo at Active Chess (Source - Schachcomputer.info). The IV is thought to have an upgraded III Mike Johnson program which includes a David Levy opening book. The chess computer for sale is in very good condition and is functioning perfectly. It comes with the box and styrofoam packaging, copy manual (English) and power supply which, as with all IVs is actually a Super System III item. SOLD (Price - £200 o.n.o)

Saitek Kasparov Blitz

The Kasparov Blitz is an interesting and unusual chess computer. It has the improved recognition of moves involving captures patented by Eric Winkler in 1989 to speed up blitz play (see Patents section). However the unusual feature of the Blitz is the control method which I think is unique. Two wheels at the side of the chess computer are used to control all of the functions including mode and selection of options. It sounds unlikely but works well enough and gives a refreshingly different feel when playing the machine and a wide range of options. The Blitz has a Julio Kaplan program running on an H8 processor at 10MHz giving an Elo of 1729 (Selective Search).

The Blitz for sale here is fully working and in very good condition. It uses either a standard 9v Saitek adaptor or 6 ‘C’ type batteries (neither included). It comes complete with the sets of chess pieces and their plastic boxes, original manuals (in English and French) and the box. All as shown in the photos.

SOLD (Price - £120)


	Conchess Monarch The Conchess Monarch was one of the earliest auto sensory chess computers on the market. It dates from 1982. Top of the Conchess range the Monarch has a handsome tournament sized chessboard measuring 51 cm x 51 cm. This Monarch is in full working order with all LEDs, reed switches and buttons functioning correctly. It is also in very good cosmetic condition as can be seen from the photographs. The Monarch comes with the Standard Program cartridge, set of original pieces, manual and power supply. All as shown in the photos. The Standard cartridge has a rating of 1554 Elo (Active Chess - Wiki) and is quite good enough to beat the unwary club player. SOLD (Price- £225)


	Tasc R30 ( with SB30 Smartboard) The Tasc R30 was the highest rated dedicated chess computer available on general sale during the 1990s. The last and finest example of the breed, before PC chess programs killed the high end market for wooden chess computers. The Tasc R30 is still the strongest dedicated chess computer available second-hand (Elo 2330 - Selective Search Oct 2012), apart from low volume ‘specials’. Smartboards for the R30, incorporating individual piece recognition, were produced in two forms. The SB20 with 64 LEDS, one per square, and the SB30 with 81 LEDS, one at each corner of each square. The original Johan de Koning program (v2.2 - Elo 2297) was upgraded in 1995 with the version 2.5 program. The Tasc R30 for sale here has both an SB30 Smartboard and the v2.5 program. It is in full working order. There are lightspots on the starting squares, some scrapes/scratches (see left edge of computer unit) but it is generally in good condition. The Tasc comes complete with the set of chess pieces, velvet chesspiece bag, copy manual (in English, German also available), power supply, connecting lead and box for the board. All as shown in the photos. SOLD on Ebay (Price - £1250)


	Fidelity Chess Challenger (CC1) As the very first chess computer to go on sale to the public the Chess Challenger has a special place in history of chess computers. Only 1000 were built and the survivors probably amount to no more than two to three hundred at this time. Hence the Chess Challenger has a lengthy page devoted to it in the ‘Rare’ section of this website (link). The Chess Challenger for sale (Serial Number - 9629) is in very good condition and is functioning correctly (the last of the four digits is somewhat dimmer than the other three but this seems to be perfectly normal CC1 behaviour). It comes with the original box and styrofoam packaging, copy manual in English, the original chesspieces and integral power supply. SOLD on Ebay (Price - £250)


	All of the chess computers on this webpage are sold 100% fully functioning, unless specifically stated. If a problem arises which is not referred to above I will either refund the full purchase price or sort out some mutually satisfactory outcome with you. The prices quoted do not include the cost of shipping, which in Europe is typically £20 - £30.