Chess Challenger 1 - plastic pieces
 

Dear Schachcomputer friends,

A few weeks ago a friend in the USA purchased a Fidelity CC1 that has a different manual and came with plastic pieces. I know that the serial numbers on CC1's do not seem to be in any pattern, but this one is lower than any other I have seen. It is serial number 1171. The original invoice came with the CC1 and the date of sale is 3/9/77, which makes this a very early CC1.

He owns two other CC1's and as soon as he saw the manual that came with this one, he was surprised. It has a different color pattern than do any other CC1 manuals he has ever seen. The dark background around the chess computer on the front cover is not there, but the background is the same white color as the rest of the cover. The print on the front cover is blue, as is some of the print on the inside and on the back cover.

This CC1 came with some cheap plastic pieces that he didn't look at too closely and thought that they were just replacements somebody had substituted for the original wooden pieces. Then he saw something in the pieces that looked familar. He had always wondered why the pictures on the CC1 boxes and manuals showed plastic pieces and not the wooden ones we all have seen. As he compared the pieces that came with this CC1 to the pictures, he was shocked to see that they are exactly the same. These plastic pieces are smaller than the wooden ones and fit the board squares better. Also, they have small magnets in the bottom so they do not slide all around like the wooden ones do.

He is convinced that these plastic pieces are actually the original pieces that came with this very early CC1. He can think of no other reason why the pictures on the boxes and manuals show the exact same pieces. For some reason, Fidelity must have decided to change to the wooden ones early in the production run.

Some other collectors, that own CC1's, have seen pictures he sent them of the pieces and they agree with him. Other collectors, that have not seen the pictures, think that this is most certainly not the original set of pieces and that the CC1 never was sold with plastic pieces. However, these collectors have no explanation why my CC1 manual is different than others they have seen or why the pictures show plastic pieces on the boxes and manuals.

Do any of you have any thoughts on this matter? Have any of you ever seen or heard of a CC1 manual that looks like the one he has?

You can see a comparison of the pieces he has versus the one on the box here: http://www.ismenio.com/chess_cc1.html
Let me know if you want to see more picutres.

Sorry for the length of this and thank you very much,

Herzliche Grüße

Ismenio Sousa ( ismenio@gmail.com / www.ismenio.com/forum )

AW: Here is a link to pictures of the plastic pieces and blue manual
 

I am the owner of the Fidelity CC1 with the plastic pieces and blue manual. Here is a link to Ismenio's excellent site that shows a picture of the plastic pieces and the blue manual compared to a regular CC1 manual. You need to move down the page some to get to these pictures.

If anybody has any comments, please post them.


http://www.ismenio.com/chess_cc1.html

Thank you,

Dick Schneiders

AW: Here is a link to pictures of the plastic pieces and blue manual
 

Dick,

welcome on board. Unfortunately I personally cannot help as I do not know very much about the Chess Challenger computers of the very early days. But I guess its something very special. Did you already contact Steve Blincoe? He is visiting us from time to time as well. Hope that someone will be able to help you.

best regards
Stefan

AW: Here is a link to pictures of the plastic pieces and blue manual
 

Hello Stefan,

Steve Blincoe and I have been in frequent contact for the past 6 months or so. I started collecting these things in late January, when I purchased two Fidelity Phantoms, a regular 6100 and an Eyeball 6126. Steve has been a constant help and influence to me ever since, as I acquired more and more of these wonderful chess computers.

I post regularly to CCC where Steve is a prominent member, and I mentioned this unusual variation of the Fidelity CC1 there a few weeks ago. He certainly was interested in the details of it, and has been very kind in his praise of my finding it. However, he has no prior knowledge of either the plastic pieces or the "blue" manual for the CC1.

Steve suggested I post about it to Kurt's forum and Ismenio suggested I post here, both in hopes that we all could find more information on this matter.

I am 100% convinced that the manual is original, and about 90% convinced that the pieces are. I suppose if I get no confirmation from anybody on either that would indicate that they are quite rare. However, I really would like to have some confirmation that these things really do exist and that I am not crazy!

Dick Schneiders

AW: Here is a link to pictures of the plastic pieces and blue manual
 

HI Stefan

He is visiting us from time to time as well. Hope that someone will be able to help you.

and i am also still watching for Computer Chess Reports
sooner or later i will find it!

Best Steveb