Sensory Chess Challenger 8



I bought this one on ebay by mistake (I thought it was a champion); it came from the US and the shipping was more expensive than the computer itself. The look is nice, I love the pieces, though one pawn is missing, but it is all in plastic.

 

 

It was released in 1980 by fidelity electronics. It is one of the most popular of all times (the price was low due to the plastic material). The processor is a Z80 and the programme is Ron Nelson, an american electrical engineer.

This engine is very weak (rated 1300 on wiki-elo-liste, but 1080 in rapid chess). I have not tested it heavily, just done some games against some engines, but it lost all the games. It lost agains Chess Titan also. The weakness is in the tactical area, it is blind when there is a combination (even a simple one). I have tested Chess Titan against it, the results is Chess Titan 9.5 - 0.5 Sensory Chess Challenger. Here are all the games. In some games, the sensory should have won, but it loosed. All the games have been played at level 3, which gives one move every minute (the user manual is a little bit optimistic).

Here is one game, a short one, loosed by the Sensory:

 

[Date "2012.12.22"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Chess Titan"]
[Black "Sensory Chess Challenger"]
[Result "1-0"]
[BlackElo "1080"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Opening "Battambang Opening"]
[Time "11:15:35"]
[Variation "Orangutan Spike"]
[WhiteElo "1300"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "adjudication"]
[PlyCount "18"]
[WhiteType "program"]
[BlackType "program"]

1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 Qf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. b5 Nb4 5. a3 Bc5 6. Ne4 Qf5 7. d3 Bxf2+
8. Nxf2 Nxd3+ 9. cxd3 Nf6 {User Adjudication} 1-0