Hello all

[Mike S.]

the adventure continues.

Forever! The best is yet to come...

[supersharp77]

Absolutely fascinating comments! WChess is fantastic! Thx Dave K and all the posters! AR

[bob]

Hello everyone. I was directed to this site last week by an old friend, Max H. I saw there was some confusion as to whether a poster was 'the Dave Kittinger'. Well, I am the Dave Kittinger who was quite active in computer chess over a decade ago and had various engines which ran on Novag products as well as PC versions from the original MyChess on HeathKit computers to Wchess, various ChessMaster versions, Sierra's Power Chess, USCF Chess program etc. Some were decent for their time.

I had discovered Stockfish over 1 year ago and realized just how far the field had advanced. It would take weeks and maybe months for the old WChess program to find tactics which Stockfish could find in a minute or less. Very impressive.

It was very nice to see some old names such as Robert Hyatt, Don Dailey, Larry Kaufman and others I'm sure.

I have not been active in the chess wars for almost 2 decades, so really don't have much to add to this forum. Just wanted to say hello. I'm impressed that the field still has a number of enthusiastic developers and followers. It was an incredibly fun and exciting time back in the day when we were just onthe cusp of getting computers to play strong enough to beat good human players.

Regards, Dave Kittinger

A side note. I had talked with Mark Lefler about perhaps trying to lure several of the "old timers" to the ICGA event next year, not necessarily to compete (although I certainly would if I attended), but I thought it might be a cool idea to get the "regulars" from years gone by. Ken, Slate, Hsu or Murray Campbell, Newborn, Schaeffer, Marsland, yourself, Stanback, maybe Kathe Spracklen, and several I have missed. If Valvo were still living, he'd also be a natural. If we can work out details, you interested?

Bob

[IanO]

Absolutely fascinating comments! WChess is fantastic! Thx Dave K and all the posters! AR

And a happy three year anniversary for this thread.

I got a lot of pleasure playing against my Sapphire II, and it was a lot of fun putting it on the internet using its serial interface. That was a great feature that I wish more dedicated computers had. I wonder, was that a debugging and development interface that was polished up for consumers, or was it intentionally designed that way from the beginning?

[Chessqueen]

Hello David,

You don't know me but I just wanted to express my gratitude for your early work
in computer chess programming. I can't begin to say how many hours of pleasure
your program in the Novag Super Constellation gave me. I still have it and it still
works!!

Definitely one of my treasured mementos.

regards,
--tom

I also would like to express my gratitud,e since Nova Citrine was one of my first chess companion and a good one the gave me a very hard time to beat, ( I might be the first one to admit that it is still a great challenger for me)

Hi Pichy How much did you pay for the Novag Citrine and what is its ratings, Is it the same program that Novag Turquoise has

[JohnW]

Here is a photo of Dave K at the 1983 Fourth WCCC
Also, since his name was mentioned in this discussion, Mikhail Botvinnik..



In case the image link doesn't work..
https://gofile.io/d/4ZCkgQ