Both levels are according to the manuals about 3 min / move.
That Lexibook still sells, though mostly the light version for kids - hardware the same. The author of the program is Kaare Danielsen - the question is how different is the program from what was in Scisys Chess Companion III. The program doesn't recognize triple repetition of a position, even though it says so on the box. I used to have a version of Companion II that I played with in 1987 during my military service, and that didn't do it either...
I bought the Lexibook some four years ago when I kind of got homesick for a chess computer, not expecting it to be so weak. Then Covid came along and the clubs closed and I started buying other computers, including ones I once owned, on e-bay and elsewhere out of nostalgia. One of them was that very Mephisto Modular MMI, which I played dozens of tournament games with from 1984-1987, it was too weak for blitz games. Nowadays I sometimes play the white King gambit with it, because it finds moves that are not in the book and yet it is not entirely easy for me to refute it. The authors of the program Nitsche, Thomas & Henne, Elmar.
Old chess computers nostalgia
Moderator: Ras
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Rubinus
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- Full name: Pavel Háse
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Rubinus
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- Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 4:05 pm
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- Full name: Pavel Háse
Re: Old chess computers nostalgia
This is the second game. The first one was also won by Mephisto, but because I didn't record it and I made a mistake during the playback, after which the game was overwritten and could not be reconstructed, unfortunately there is no record. It was played Italian, Greco with Bd2. I'll probably play ten of them in succession if Lexibook at least occasionally plays something. I remember sometime in 1986 my then MMI lost one game in a home tournament even to an even weaker Novag Super Senzor IV....
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Rubinus
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Re: Old chess computers nostalgia
Stockfish 4+2, Mephisto 3 min/move
These games of asymmetric opponents are sometimes very interesting. When one does the stupid thing, sometimes there are 19th century turns.
These games of asymmetric opponents are sometimes very interesting. When one does the stupid thing, sometimes there are 19th century turns.
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Rubinus
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Re: Old chess computers nostalgia
I forgot to limit my ctg book to 8 moves. And it's a shame that they didn't play 5.g3, that's not in the older books at all. Later Mephisto used to have more variants on KG, 2.-Qh4+, or 3.-d5 or 3.Nf6, but this mm1 I think only played that. And he had nothing against 3.Bc4, there he played Qh4+ with his own strength (his library is only 500 half-moves!).
I'll try it twice more, I want to see the 5.g3 and possibly the massacre after 3.Bc4 Qh4+.
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Rubinus
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Re: Old chess computers nostalgia
Compared to the previous game, the change was only in the 27th move. Probably self-learning, but too late as usual. The concept of self-learning files didn't work because errors were often detected in the wrong places and because the capacity of the entries was not large, usually after a while the program reverted to the old errors because the old entries were overwritten by new errors...
Given the limited libraries after 1.c4, when Lexibook probably plays only e5 and Mephisto has only the played variant there, since Black himself used to play exclusively e6 with a transition to the queens gambit, there is no point in repeating the variant; if the same variant arises next time, I will cancel the game and give another one. Now, however, Lexibook will have white twice.
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Rubinus
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Re: Old chess computers nostalgia
Based on the progress so far, it doesn't look like Lexibook can make a point out of ten games.
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Rubinus
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Re: Old chess computers nostalgia
This time I didn't transfer the moves from the old machine, I used Franz Huber's emulator. Mostly I saw the 5.g3. Now 3.Bc4 and I can drop the veteran torture. Actually, about 1/5 of the time he plays 1.-c5. That could be a Sicilian gambit to watch. Unfortunately, the emulator seems to have lost information on what library moves play for which side. I played a lot of those games with MMI 40 years ago, maybe several hundred, against 1.e4 nothing but e5 and occasionally c5 the emulator often plays maybe g6.
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Rubinus
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Re: Old chess computers nostalgia
Same variant as the first game. Again, some self-learning must have worked, because White lost the first one faster, too bad he couldn't make the entry due to a playback error. I only played a few games with the Lexibook, and when I realized how weak it was, I played a few more blind... So I don't know if he plays anything other than Italian in open games too. Mephisto for Black doesn't play anything other than Bc5 either, if Lexibook only has Greco with Bd2 in stock then I won't repeat that variant either.
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Rubinus
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Re: Old chess computers nostalgia
Two more batches of the emulator. Mephisto is level 6 here too, i.e. 3 min / turn. The advantage of the emulator is that it can be dropped about 10x faster, so for a short game it can handle a tempo of 15+10 - it will lose faster than it goes over time. Stockfish still has my KG gambit book, limited to 8 moves.
For those interested, I teach the setup to Fritz:
Code: Select all
[ENGINE]
Name=Mephisto Modular MM1-A
Author=MessChess
FileName=c:\chess\programy\CB-Emu\MessChess\MessChess.exe
Parameter=mm1
[OPTIONS]
Speed=1000
Level=6-
Rubinus
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Re: Old chess computers nostalgia
4 games to go and I'm losing faith that Lexibook is going to win anything. I expected it to be weaker, but not by that much. This really looks like a 40 year old program in a new box.
I have long said if the manufacturer states ELO subtract 200-400. If it says nothing, it's a toy for little kids...