Part of the personal collection of Manfred Hegener.
A- Differences between WM and TM
- 1) WM devices were made specially to compete for the WMCC.
It is why they are often called WM in opposition with the Tournament Machines (TM).
They were mounted inside ESB Boards.
The WM were numbered and identified by a label.
This computer has the number 3 and its serial number is <<HR 4000 - 0050073>>. The serial number HR 4000 corresponds to the ESB board series.
2) TM were mounted inside of a Munchen Board.
The PCB was hidden behind a black elegant plaque with display and keyboard.
The TM were less powerful than the WM: their microprocessor had a speed of 36 MHz; the amount of memory was 4 MB of RAM (8 MB in the WM version).
- 68030 Motorola with a speed of 50 MHz (68030RC50B).
- different speeds were tried by H&G engineers before or during the competition .
The WM had not the black metallic cover of the TM to allow the engineers to access easily to the hardware during the competition.
It is why each WM is unique: each one was tuned with different speeds.
According to Wikipedia, two or three devices were tuned at 50 MHz and were playing at the World Championships in Portorose in 1989 and in Lyon in1990. Two or three units were tuned at 60 to 66 MHz and participated to the World Championships in Vancouver in 1991.
It doesn't mean that HG engineers were making 6 to 9 computers.
This computer is the proof that the same computers were used from one competition to the other. That is perfectly understandable: few components needed to be upgraded. Moreover, it is always better to have tested multiple times the same machine than to start from the beginning all the tests with a new computer.
According to the labels attached to the box of this computer, only three computers were sent to the World Championship in Lyon in 1990.
This computer (the number 3) has travelled a lot participating to several competitions since 1990 (see the notes and photos below). Its last travel for H&G seems to have been in 1992. It was the property of Manfred Hegener. It was kept inside of its original shipping box used to send it to different places.
HR 4000 - 0050073 World Machine Characteristics
- World Machine (WM) version
- 1990
- Processor: Motorola 68030RC50B, 32 bits
- RAM: 8 MB
- EPROM: 256KB removable (quick remover/plugin socket)
- Program Vancouver by Richard Lang
- Three fans
- Metallic plaque on the bottom to reduce the heat.
- Board: 50x50x9.5 cm, 64 LEDs
- Adapter: HGN 5015
- Id Number: HR 4000 - 0050073
- Price: 25000 Marks (around 12500 Euros)
- WMCC Portorose (1989), WMCC Lyon (1990), Vancouver (1991)
- on the box, 3 handwriting notes: WM89 (Portorose), WM90 (Lyon) and WM91 (Vancouver) and "#3"
- postal details: part of a lot of 3 computers.
Eleventh World Microcomputer Chess Championship - VANCOUVER 1991
Participants and Results
Code: Select all
Rank Program Score
1 Gideon 6.0 World Microcomputer Chess Champion
2 MChess 5.5
3 The King 5.0
4 Mephisto X 5.0 World Microcomputer Chess Champion (Manufacturer)
5 Fidelity X 4.5
6 Hiarcs 4.0
7 Now 4.0
8 Brainstorm 3.5
9 Nightmare (D ) 3.5
10 Échec 3.5
11 Patzer 3.0
12 Cumulus 2.5
13 Woodpusher 2.5
14 Innovation 2.5
15 Centaur 1.0