Boris Electronic Chess Computer

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Boris,
an early dedicated chess computer, which appeared in February 1978, designed and manufactured by Applied Concepts^[2] and marketed by primary distributor Chafitz. Already in March 1978, Boris played Second West Coast Computer Faire Microcomputer Chess Tournament in the 'microcomputers with less than 8K of memory class' ^[3]. Boris ran on a Fairchild F8 8-bit microprocessor with only 2.5 KiB ROM and 256 byte RAM. David Lindsay was hired to program the machine ^[4], and two further Boris models with Lindsay programs appeared in 1979, the first travel chess computer Boris Diplomat^[5][6], where Lindsay holds a patent ^[7] on the Chess piece font^[8], and the Boris Master^[9].

• 6Boris Experimental
  • 6.2Controversy

Try playing an online chess game against a top chess computer. You can set the level from 1 to 10, from easy to grandmaster. If you get stuck, use a hint or take back the move. When you are ready to play games with human players, register for a free Chess.com account! My local library received a donation; a chess computer from 1979! The computer honestly isn't that skilled. It has a small opening book, and it makes blunder.

Arleen and Steve Chafitz, Boris is King ^[10][11]

Steve Chafitz on a call from Bobby Fischer^[12][13]:

The name of the computer was likely in dependence on the given name of Boris Spassky, who lost the Chess World Championship 1972 from Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik.

The ICGA site mentions Rex Kent as author of Boris Experimental which played the 1st World Microcomputer Chess Championship 1980 in London^[14]. However, Boris X was already the work of Kathe and Dan Spracklen, and additionally with modifications by John Aker and Terry Fredrick. Rex Kent operated Boris at the PCW-MCC 1978^[15]. It is a bit unclear whether Kent was operator or co- or book-author of the early Boris otherwise credited to David Lindsay.

In 1979, following the development of the original Boris when more advanced programs were required, Arleen and Steve Chafitz contracted Kathe and Dan Spracklen to be their chess programmers for their Chafitz modular game system as well the Applied ConceptsGreat Game Machine^[16]. Their Sargon 2.5 program appeared as Chafitz Sargon 2.5 MGS module^[17], and in 1980, as Chafitz ARB Sargon 2.5^[18], also called Boris Sargon 2.5^[19] or simply dubbed Boris 2.5. John Aker and Terry Fredrick, affiliated with Applied Concepts, were involved in improving the Sargon and Boris program ^[20].

Boris Handroid was the first but very rare electronic chess robot from 1980 ^[22], with 64 Hall effect sensors to recognize pieces, and three servomechanisms to control the cartesianrobotic arm. The Handroid program, adapted by Terry Fredrick^[23] was also based on Sargon 2.5 by Kathe and Dan Spracklen.

Boris Experimental (Boris X) was the further development of the Boris 2.5 aka Sargon 2.5 program, but no longer by the Spracklens, who after their experience no longer worked for Chafitz, but for Samole'sFidelity Electronics. John Aker continued the job.

WMCCC 1980

The Sargon based Boris Experimental played the 1st World Microcomputer Chess Championship, September 4-9, 1980, in London, where it only lost versus later champion and Sargon based Challenger X, blundering an endgame a piece up ^[24], and became second with 4 out of 5!

Controversy

ACM 1980

Boris X was also registered for the ACM 1980. A brief description is given in the tournament booklet with Applied Concepts CEO Alan Mead as representative ^[25] :

But Boris X, despite registered, finally did not play the ACM 1980. Kathe Spracklen had filed a protest, claiming Boris X is too similar to Sargon 2.5, and requested mutual comparison of the source code. Bauxite vietnam blogspot. After John Aker admitted that Boris X was a revamped Sargon 2.5, Boris was rejected ^[26][27].

ACM 1981

At the 12th ACM 1981, Boris X was mentioned in the booklet again, now with a long list of its authors and Applied Concepts representatives ^[28], but again, did not participate, likely also because David Slate was already competing with Nuchess:

• Boris assembly manual (pdf) hosted by Alain Zanchetta
• Editor (1978). What's New? Computer chess; Microchess 1.5; Boris, BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 10, pp. 193, pdf from The Computer History Museum » MicroChess
• Editor (1978). Black-box war. Personal Computing, Vol. 2, No. 11, pp. 17 » Chess Challenger
• Harry Shershow (1979). Chafitz' Big Move in Computer Chess. Personal Computing, Vol. 3, No. 9, pp. 59 » Sargon
• Michael Ham (1980). Modular Game System and Boris / Sargon 2.5. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 7, pp. 79 » Modular Game System
• Editor (1980). Boris on the Move. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp. 77 » Applied Concepts
• David E. Welsh (1980). Rating Boris 2.5. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 10, pp. 78
• Editor (1980). The battle of Boris 2.5 vs Sargon 2.5Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 10, pp. 83 » Applied Concepts, Chafitz
• David E. Welsh (1980). Rating Boris 2.5 - Part II. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 11, pp. 87
• Harry Shershow (1981). Two New Units In Aktion. Personal Computing, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 91 » MCC 1980, John Aker, Morphy
• Applied Concepts - Boris Diplomat (pdf) by Hein Veldhuis

Spark Chess Boris

• The old Boris chess computer by Truman Collins, rgcc, January 25, 1996 ^[29]
• Collectors Corner. Chafitz Chess Computers.The Early Years by Steve B, Hiarcs Forum, March 30, 2008

ACM 1981

At the 12th ACM 1981, Boris X was mentioned in the booklet again, now with a long list of its authors and Applied Concepts representatives ^[28], but again, did not participate, likely also because David Slate was already competing with Nuchess:

• Boris assembly manual (pdf) hosted by Alain Zanchetta
• Editor (1978). What's New? Computer chess; Microchess 1.5; Boris, BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 10, pp. 193, pdf from The Computer History Museum » MicroChess
• Editor (1978). Black-box war. Personal Computing, Vol. 2, No. 11, pp. 17 » Chess Challenger
• Harry Shershow (1979). Chafitz' Big Move in Computer Chess. Personal Computing, Vol. 3, No. 9, pp. 59 » Sargon
• Michael Ham (1980). Modular Game System and Boris / Sargon 2.5. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 7, pp. 79 » Modular Game System
• Editor (1980). Boris on the Move. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 8, pp. 77 » Applied Concepts
• David E. Welsh (1980). Rating Boris 2.5. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 10, pp. 78
• Editor (1980). The battle of Boris 2.5 vs Sargon 2.5Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 10, pp. 83 » Applied Concepts, Chafitz
• David E. Welsh (1980). Rating Boris 2.5 - Part II. Personal Computing, Vol. 4, No. 11, pp. 87
• Harry Shershow (1981). Two New Units In Aktion. Personal Computing, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 91 » MCC 1980, John Aker, Morphy
• Applied Concepts - Boris Diplomat (pdf) by Hein Veldhuis

Spark Chess Boris

• The old Boris chess computer by Truman Collins, rgcc, January 25, 1996 ^[29]
• Collectors Corner. Chafitz Chess Computers.The Early Years by Steve B, Hiarcs Forum, March 30, 2008

• Boris Electronic Chess Computer], The Computer History Museum
• Boris is King by Daniel Collin ^[30]
• Applied Concepts Boris from Chess Computer UK by Mike Watters
• Chafitz Boris from The Spacious Mind
• Chafitz Boris from Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
• Chafitz Boris Master from Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
• Chafitz Boris Diplomat from Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
• Other F8 games - Boris Diplomat by Sean Riddle - playable in MESS
• Directly coming from the 21st Century: the Boris HANDroid by Rob van Son, ChessEval, February 2014

1. ↑Boris Electronic Chess Computer, Applied Concepts, from The Computer History Museum
2. ↑Patent Application filed 2nd March 1978 Inventors: Rod Barclay, John A. Cunningham, Alan B. Mead, Joseph T. Spaits for Applied Concepts, Inc. from Patents from Chess Computer UK by Mike Watters
3. ↑Larry Wagner (1978). Results of First Microcomputer Chess Tournament. Silicon Gulch Gazette, Vol. 2, No. 4, May 10, 1978, pg. 9
4. ↑Collectors Corner. Chafitz Chess Computers.The Early Years by Steve B, Hiarcs Forum, March 30, 2008
5. ↑Applied Concepts - Boris Diplomat (pdf) by Hein Veldhuis
6. ↑Chafitz Boris Diplomat from Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
7. ↑Professional Profiles for Innovators of D255247, Lindsay, David including employment histories, technology specializations, innovator rankings/ratings, residence addresses, co-workers, Chess piece font from PatentBuddy
8. ↑Boris Diplomat character's from Boris is King by Daniel Collin
9. ↑Chafitz Boris Master from Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
10. ↑Ft.Boris | Flickr - Fotosharing by Chewbanta
11. ↑Boris is King by Daniel Collin
12. ↑e-End former history site
13. ↑Industry and Security News - Old news story brings back old memories for e-End's CEO and President
14. ↑Rex Kent's ICGA Tournaments
15. ↑David Levy (1978). The PCW Microcomputer Chess Championships, Personal Computer World 11/78, pdf from Chess Computer UK by Mike Watters
16. ↑Welcome to the Great-Game Machine Workshop
17. ↑Chafitz Sargon 2.5 from Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
18. ↑Chafitz ARB Sargon 2.5 Electronic Chess Computer from The Spacious Mind
19. ↑Boris Sargon 2.5 by Tom Luif
20. ↑terryfrederick.com/resume.htm as of 2018 dead link
21. ↑Boris Handroid from Kurt´s Schachcomputer Homepage by Kurt Kispert (German), Photo by Rolf Bühlers
22. ↑Schachroboter from Kurt´s Schachcomputer Homepage by Kurt Kispert (German)
23. ↑Terry M. Fredrick - Resume
24. ↑London 1980 - Chess - Round 3 - Game 1 (ICGA Tournaments)
25. ↑The Eleventh ACM's North American Computer Chess Championship, pdf from The Computer History Museum
26. ↑Applied Concepts - Morphy Edition Master Chess (module) (pdf) by Hein Veldhuis
27. ↑Evan Katz (1981). The Eleventh North American Computer Chess Championship. Personal Computing, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 87
28. ↑The Twelfth ACM's North American Computer Chess Championship, pdf from The Computer History Museum
29. ↑Truman Collins (1995). A Trip Down Chess Computer Memory Lane. Computer Chess Reports, Vol. 5, No. 3-4 Addendum, pp. 33
30. ↑Boris is King website address has been changed ! by Boris is King, Hiarcs Forum, May 31, 2017

Boris Chess Game