Novag Chess Champion MK 2

Summary

The Chess Challenger by Fidelity is the first chess computer on the market in 1977; a short time later, CompuChess of Data Cash follows, which has been developed for over a year. The American company Novag clones CompuChess and commercializes it under the name Chess Champion MK 1 in September 1978. There is a patent dispute that Data Cash does not win.

The Chess Champion MK 2 succeeded the MK 1 in 1979. The new model is considerably more powerful and offers 8 difficulty levels instead of 6. While the MK 1 can only play the black pieces, the MK 2 plays either colour. It implements all internationally recognised chess rules. A set of 14 sounds indicates different game situations, and an undo function allows a move to be taken back.

The then world champion Anatoli Karpow advertises the chess computer, which costs only a little more than the predecessor between 220 and 280 German Marks.

At difficulty level 6, the MK 1 takes between 2 and 6 days to calculate a single move. Despite using the same hardware, the MK 2 needs only 3 minutes per move at its highest level, 8. In a 1985 interview, Novag’s head described the development this way: “Our MK I had, as I always put it, more bugs than buttons.”