Hello from Fabrice
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2020 4:05 pm
Hello Maurice, Hans and all,
I am Fabrice, French, leaving in California and I am found of Chess computers since I am about 8yo, meaning the early 70s...
I learned Chess around 3yo and wanted a computer because I would be able to play with it all the time (my grand father and father were not always available for playing with me). It also made me be interested in many kind of computers (HP calculators or early desktop computers for example - I have a decent collection of HP calculators actually) and put me on the path of software engineering and Artificial Intelligence. I am a Physics Engineer and a dropped out Phd in AI but I spent all my professional career as a Software Engineer. If you have an Android phone, you are probably running some of my code
The first chess computer I could see in real was the famous blue Boris Diplomat at my school's Chess club. Looked amazing and kinda mysterious at that time. Later on, as I was subscribed to the French magazine called "Jeux Et Strategies" (I have all of its printed issues) and I was loving all the news about chess computers and their progression.
The second one I met in person was the real Mephisto Brikett (Mephisto 1) when I was in Munchen in 1980. I could play with it during a demo done in a store. That was super fun but I could not afford it as it was too expensive for me.
Well, after I got my first job and salary I bought ... a Mephisto Vancouvers 16bit and played 5min blitz "non stop" with it for about 6 months and went to the local Chess club in Toulouse and defeated two GMs at blitz... I decided to stop playing Chess at that time as it would have been difficult to have a normal life.
Later on, I did some chess machines testing for a small Chess magazine in Paris and I got to play with the Renaissance Sparc or the Tasc R30 for example and a few others famous ones.
Funnily I contracted the Othello / Reversi "virus" and trained and played a lot and became one of the world top player and retired from competitions in 2005.
My initial machine collection started with the Vancouver 16bit and then I got a Milano and a Novag Saphire II and then a TASC board for playing with Chess Genius 1.0 and others on my desktop machine. I sold most of them (stupid move) when I moved from France to the US.
My current collection is mainly composed of wood machine including Mephistos (I have quite a few modules and several Exclusive / Munchen / Modular boards and also Montreal(s) and Monte Carlo, an Atlanta, a Milano Pro and of course Brikett 1 and 2). I have also one Revelation II (serial #8 with the extra AE module) and all emulations, a Revelation Module Set in a Munchen board (this one exactly: https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/i ... Module_Set). I have also all the last Millenium wood machines (Chess Genius Exclusive, King Lasker and King Performance), a DGT Centaur and a DGT USB board (one of the first) and then a few others like a Chafitz Morphy Encore, SciSys CC MK V, Boris Master + Diplomat (several versions), a real Fidelity CC1 (yes no typo), an Excel 68K and a few other Fidelity machines (CC7, SCC 9, 12, 12B).
For games other than Chess, I have several Fidelity Reversi Challengers (of course !), Checkers, Backgammon, Saitek Backgammons and a few bridge ones too. I also have an Odin cartridge for the GGM (but no more any GGM) and the original Othello cartridge for the Gameboy (given to me when I went to Japan in 2005 for playing the Othello Meijin tournament)
The machine I like the most in my collection is actually the Mephisto Amsterdam in an Exclusive board (and a very sturdy Mountain Case) as it was the first consumer machine to cross the mythical 2000 Elo points.
I want to say that I like the ChessEval site because there is quite a lot of unique and interesting infos about rare chess machines. Maurice collection is indeed amazing !!
Feel free to contact me anytime thru a PM. BTW I am searching a nice Fidelity Dames 10x10 and a Mephisto Glasgow
Cheers,
Fabrice
I am Fabrice, French, leaving in California and I am found of Chess computers since I am about 8yo, meaning the early 70s...
I learned Chess around 3yo and wanted a computer because I would be able to play with it all the time (my grand father and father were not always available for playing with me). It also made me be interested in many kind of computers (HP calculators or early desktop computers for example - I have a decent collection of HP calculators actually) and put me on the path of software engineering and Artificial Intelligence. I am a Physics Engineer and a dropped out Phd in AI but I spent all my professional career as a Software Engineer. If you have an Android phone, you are probably running some of my code
The first chess computer I could see in real was the famous blue Boris Diplomat at my school's Chess club. Looked amazing and kinda mysterious at that time. Later on, as I was subscribed to the French magazine called "Jeux Et Strategies" (I have all of its printed issues) and I was loving all the news about chess computers and their progression.
The second one I met in person was the real Mephisto Brikett (Mephisto 1) when I was in Munchen in 1980. I could play with it during a demo done in a store. That was super fun but I could not afford it as it was too expensive for me.
Well, after I got my first job and salary I bought ... a Mephisto Vancouvers 16bit and played 5min blitz "non stop" with it for about 6 months and went to the local Chess club in Toulouse and defeated two GMs at blitz... I decided to stop playing Chess at that time as it would have been difficult to have a normal life.
Later on, I did some chess machines testing for a small Chess magazine in Paris and I got to play with the Renaissance Sparc or the Tasc R30 for example and a few others famous ones.
Funnily I contracted the Othello / Reversi "virus" and trained and played a lot and became one of the world top player and retired from competitions in 2005.
My initial machine collection started with the Vancouver 16bit and then I got a Milano and a Novag Saphire II and then a TASC board for playing with Chess Genius 1.0 and others on my desktop machine. I sold most of them (stupid move) when I moved from France to the US.
My current collection is mainly composed of wood machine including Mephistos (I have quite a few modules and several Exclusive / Munchen / Modular boards and also Montreal(s) and Monte Carlo, an Atlanta, a Milano Pro and of course Brikett 1 and 2). I have also one Revelation II (serial #8 with the extra AE module) and all emulations, a Revelation Module Set in a Munchen board (this one exactly: https://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/i ... Module_Set). I have also all the last Millenium wood machines (Chess Genius Exclusive, King Lasker and King Performance), a DGT Centaur and a DGT USB board (one of the first) and then a few others like a Chafitz Morphy Encore, SciSys CC MK V, Boris Master + Diplomat (several versions), a real Fidelity CC1 (yes no typo), an Excel 68K and a few other Fidelity machines (CC7, SCC 9, 12, 12B).
For games other than Chess, I have several Fidelity Reversi Challengers (of course !), Checkers, Backgammon, Saitek Backgammons and a few bridge ones too. I also have an Odin cartridge for the GGM (but no more any GGM) and the original Othello cartridge for the Gameboy (given to me when I went to Japan in 2005 for playing the Othello Meijin tournament)
The machine I like the most in my collection is actually the Mephisto Amsterdam in an Exclusive board (and a very sturdy Mountain Case) as it was the first consumer machine to cross the mythical 2000 Elo points.
I want to say that I like the ChessEval site because there is quite a lot of unique and interesting infos about rare chess machines. Maurice collection is indeed amazing !!
Feel free to contact me anytime thru a PM. BTW I am searching a nice Fidelity Dames 10x10 and a Mephisto Glasgow
Cheers,
Fabrice
