Mephisto Touch
Screen Travel Chess
by Jan Fagerholm, PCC Pawn
The Bullet Points: Battery-operated PDA-sized chess computer with monochrome screen, stylus, and leather carrying case, 100 levels of play, multiple advanced playing and training features, and multi language manual. Runs on 3 AAA batteries, not included. 2 year manufacturer’s warranty.
The Review: Chess fans have a golden era in the computer age. Chess programs for PCs have become as powerful as mainframe programs were twenty years ago, and your average PC can now perform world-class play. There have been dedicated chess playing computers built into standard sized chess boards for years now, but miniaturized versions have not been prolific. I suppose that’s because chess fans are by nature traditional about the game and prefer working with full-sized boards and pieces. I, on the other hand, am a gadget freak, so I instantly took to the PDA-sized Mephisto.
Saitek makes an entire line of computerized chess boards, most of which have traditional boards and pieces. The Mephisto is their smallest device, a dedicated chess computer in a PDA package. It comes in a stylish 5" x 3.2" x 0.75" PDA-style case complete with stylus. The screen is a 2.5"x2.75" monochrome LCD that displays the chess board and timer, and features a snap-on screen protection cover. The display has a permanent grey and white chess board that shows even when the device is off: the chess pieces display on the board when you turn the power on. The timer and message display is at the bottom of the screen. By default, you are white and the computer plays black.
Moves are performed by using the stylus or a finger to tap the piece you want to move, then tap the place you want to move it. When you make a move, the timer switches players, and when the computer decides on a move it flashes the piece in the to-from positions to visually notify you, and displays the to-from squares in standard chess notation in the timer area. If you attempt an illegal move, the device simply refuses to move the piece. Performing special moves, like Castling and En Passant, are similar to procedures in other computer chess programs.
Navigation of the device’s settings is stone simple. (Thankfully, not as complex as some of the play.). There are four navigation keys in a diamond arrangement with an “Enter” key in the center, flanked by two more keys, a “New Game” key and “Hint” key. Moving the pieces is accomplished with the stylus: the keys are used to navigate the settings menus when you choose to make adjustments, such as level of play.
The principal method of controlling the difficulty level is by limiting the time the computer gets to think. (This is a common method in all computer chess programs.) Chess programs (including Deep Blue) work by the brute force method of examining all possible moves from the current position of the pieces, aided by the programmer’s ability to direct some of the machine’s analysis away from dead ends and toward successful conclusions. Thus, you can control the machine’s difficulty as an opponent simply by limiting its look-ahead time and forcing it to take the best decision it finds within a time limit. The higher levels can allow it to think for quite a while, which can be, well, boring. You can press the “Enter” key anytime while Mephisto is thinking and force it to take the best move it has found to that point. This can be useful at the higher levels of play if you get tired of waiting. If just being a chess opponent was all it did, Mephisto would be ordinary. It’s the added features that make it interesting and useful. Whenever you play any of the Tournament levels, the device will generate an ELO rating for your play (the rating system used by FIDE, the international body which governs chess). (I will not embarrass myself by stating any of my ELO numbers here.) It has an openings library which includes most major openings and many from Grand Master play, allowing me to get trounced by the very best players.
The device performs look-ahead on your potential moves while it’s your turn, so that it doesn’t have to think so long during its turn, which improves response time materially. There is a two-player mode (human against human) where the device acts as referee, checking the legality of each move and the time for both sides. The clock can be changed from “count-up” to “count- down”, allowing death-match style play.
Mephisto has many features that make it a good learning tool. You can change sides at any time during the game. There is a “Hint” button to suggest a move for you. It has what it calls “Autobook Mode,” which allows you to play against specific openings and practice against them. It also has a “Coach Mode”, which watches while you play and warns you in advance of moves where you might put yourself in jeopardy.
Of course there is a takeback mode which allows you to back up a move and try again. There is also an “Info Mode” which lets you watch what the device is thinking while it calculates its move. Variations and combinations of these features combine to turn the device into a teaching tool that works on several levels of exposition.
There are 100 levels of play of which the upper 30 percent are classified as Tournament. All of the learning features can be used at all these levels. At the beginning levels, it even has built-in “mistakes” to give you an opportunity to learn to look for openings to take advantage of.
The device can be turned off in the middle of a game and the game will be automatically saved. The PDA format is great for portability, but has its disadvantages, the small LCD screen being the biggest one. While they did a creditable job of making the pieces visually distinguishable, they are tiny and require close study to be sure of what you are looking at. I’m sure the monochrome screen was a deliberate design decision (along with the absence of a screen backlight) in order to save battery life. Color LCD screens just use too much power, so aren’t suitable for running on batteries for long periods of time. So far, the device has run three months on three AAA batteries. The stylus stows in the device, PDA style, but it seems it should have a reset pin in it, like Palm stylus’s do. The genuine leather case is good quality, but it’s not big enough to hold the device and the manual a problem, because you really want the manual with this device. The separate screen protector made sense to me when I simply began to zip the manual into the leather case and chuck the device into the bottom of my tote bag.
Overall, the Mephisto is a very nice device, well designed for what it is intended. Saitek’s line of electronic chess players is endorsed by Kasparov, which they proudly display on the logo. The Mephisto doesn’t give away anything in smarts for its small size, either. Its wide ranging playing and teaching abilities from novice level to tournament level make it an interesting alternative to the daily newspaper drudge during commute, or for spending a reflective lunch hour. If you want to learn to play chess, or are looking for a partner that can play at your level and progress with you, this is it. Highly recommended.
Saitek Mephisto
Travel Chess Computer
MSRP $79.95
Saitek Industries Ltd.
2295 Jefferson St .
Torrance , CA 90501
800 452-4377