I’m looking for a nice electronic Chess set - who makes these things?.
Is there a need for one? I had one once but failed to really get anything out of it.
I recommend correspondence games a www.chesshere.com
Any of the chess sets on the market these days will give you more of a game than you can handle.
I recommend against getting another piece of stuff and for just getting software to run on your computer. The junk will quickly wind up in your closet, as one lies in mine. The software is always available for a distraction.
I have an electronic set from 10 years ago in my closet–I don’t even know if it works anymore–that I take out periodiically to play with the kids. Yet, while you may have specific reasons for needing an electronic chess set, I agree with Art … just get a chess software program. I have Chessmaster 9000. It’s pretty cheap, goes everywhere my laptop goes, and has lots of other stuff like tutoritals, help from chess masters, etc.
Reminds me of a funny story. When I was an undergrad, a friend of mine seemed to always like to compete with me and said he could kick my ass in chess. We would play one move a day on a piece of paper. He was actually playing against the best chess program I could find at the time, set at its maximum setting and allowed to run for a few hours per move.
I remember Sargon III on Apple 2 used to cheat and do illegal moves. It would sometimes move a pawn diagonally between two of my pawns and remove both from the board. Now I’m no chess expert but I’m pretty sure you can’t take out two pieces with one move.
Computers of those days really sucked at postal type chess. It takes away their big man vs. machine advantage of not making “mistakes” and being able to wear the person down. The extra time doesn’t help the computer that much, but helps the human a lot.
I used to enjoy kicking my computer’s ass that way, until it got boring.
In speed chess it would usually kill me.
I haven’t played computers with any effort in many years. The new ones are just way too good from what I understand. It has basically killed the sport. It used to be you could count on them to screw up the endgame reliably, or else overlook mating threats beyond its horizon. I guess those days are over.
Check out www.itsyourturn.com
You can play chess free on this site. Its not better than playing someone in person, but its the next best thing.
I am playing on www.playtheimmortalgame.com, aka www.redhotpawn.com. Also free, except you have a 6 game maximum if you don’t sign up.
Bought one from Radio Shack ten years ago. It was under a hundred dollars and very portable for travelling. I used to be a fairly decent chess player years ago, but this thing beats me quite often on the higher levels. They’re great because of the convenience of not having to hunt down somebody to play with and because you can stop the game any time to come back and play later. They think very logically being a computer and I found my chess skills improved using it. I haven’t played for awhile but now you’ve just motivated me.
I remember Sargon III on Apple 2 used to cheat and do illegal moves. It would sometimes move a pawn diagonally between two of my pawns and remove both from the board. Now I’m no chess expert but I’m pretty sure you can’t take out two pieces with one move.
Gee whiz. THanks for dredging that memory up. I remember the horrors of a 5th grader playing Sargon III on the Apple IIe. I hated that f------ behind the curtain that needed to cheat to beat me!
Bernie