Chessmachine
Encyclopedia
The ChessMachine was a chess computer sold between 1991 and 1995 by TASC (The Advanced Software Company). It was unique at the time for incorporating both an ARM2
coprocessor
for the chess engine on an ISA card which plugged into a IBM PC
and a software interface running on the PC to display a chess board and control the engine. The ISA card was sold with a CPU running at either 16 MHz or 32 MHz, and 128 KB, 512 KB, or 1 MB of onboard memory for transposition table
s. This made economic sense at the time of introduction because mainstream PCs were only running from 10 MHz to 25 MHz. Two engines were sold with the card: The King
by Johann de Koning and Gideon
by Ed Schröder. Gideon was famed for winning two World Computer Chess Championship
s on this hardware. The King later became the engine used in the popular Chessmaster
series of chess programs.
TASC later incorporated the technology into a dedicated unit, sold from 1993 to 1997. There were two models, the R30 and R40, running at 30 MHz and 40 MHz respectively, and having 512 KB and 1 MB of transposition tables, respectively. The units were in small boxes about the size of a chess clock, which attached via a serial cable to a wooden sensory board called the SmartBoard. They were only sold with The King chess engine. This was the end of the era of strong dedicated chess computers, and these two models are acknowledged as the strongest dedicated chess computers that were ever sold. At the height of its strength, the R30 attained a rating over 2350 on computer rating lists, higher than any other dedicated unit. According to the SSDF
rating list, the R30 held its own against its contemporary programs running a Pentium
-90 MHz and won against other dedicated units.
ARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
coprocessor
Coprocessor
A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor . Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, or encryption. By offloading processor-intensive tasks from the main processor,...
for the chess engine on an ISA card which plugged into a IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
and a software interface running on the PC to display a chess board and control the engine. The ISA card was sold with a CPU running at either 16 MHz or 32 MHz, and 128 KB, 512 KB, or 1 MB of onboard memory for transposition table
Transposition table
In computer chess and other computer games, transposition tables are used to speed up the search of the game tree. Transposition tables are primarily useful in perfect information games, meaning the entire state of the game is known to all players at all times....
s. This made economic sense at the time of introduction because mainstream PCs were only running from 10 MHz to 25 MHz. Two engines were sold with the card: The King
Chessmaster
Chessmaster is a chess playing computer game series which is now owned and developed by Ubisoft. It is the best-selling chess franchise in history, with more than five million units sold .-Timeline:...
by Johann de Koning and Gideon
REBEL (chess)
REBEL was a world champion chess program developed by Ed Schröder. Development of REBEL started in 1980 on a TRS-80, and it was ported many times to dedicated hardware and the fastest microprocessors of the day:...
by Ed Schröder. Gideon was famed for winning two World Computer Chess Championship
World Computer Chess Championship
World Computer Chess Championship is an annual event where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the International Computer Games Association...
s on this hardware. The King later became the engine used in the popular Chessmaster
Chessmaster
Chessmaster is a chess playing computer game series which is now owned and developed by Ubisoft. It is the best-selling chess franchise in history, with more than five million units sold .-Timeline:...
series of chess programs.
TASC later incorporated the technology into a dedicated unit, sold from 1993 to 1997. There were two models, the R30 and R40, running at 30 MHz and 40 MHz respectively, and having 512 KB and 1 MB of transposition tables, respectively. The units were in small boxes about the size of a chess clock, which attached via a serial cable to a wooden sensory board called the SmartBoard. They were only sold with The King chess engine. This was the end of the era of strong dedicated chess computers, and these two models are acknowledged as the strongest dedicated chess computers that were ever sold. At the height of its strength, the R30 attained a rating over 2350 on computer rating lists, higher than any other dedicated unit. According to the SSDF
Swedish Chess Computer Association
The Swedish Chess Computer Association is an organization that tests computer chess software by playing chess programs against one another and producing a rating list. On September 26, 2008, the list was released with Deep Rybka 3 leading with an estimated Elo rating of 3238. Rybka's listing in...
rating list, the R30 held its own against its contemporary programs running a Pentium
Pentium
The original Pentium microprocessor was introduced on March 22, 1993. Its microarchitecture, deemed P5, was Intel's fifth-generation and first superscalar x86 microarchitecture. As a direct extension of the 80486 architecture, it included dual integer pipelines, a faster FPU, wider data bus,...
-90 MHz and won against other dedicated units.