I don't know how expensive it is, but excalliber is a good brand of portable electronic chess players. But I would recomend a computer program such as fritz, shredder, junior, etc if you don't need something portable. They will give you a better game for your money and have good analisis functions.
Hmmmmmm, it's been years since I've taken a serious interest in dedicated chess computers, but I'm sure the price range you specify should get a VERY strong table top model nowadays. I spent $500 for the best there was 20 years ago and I still get my butt kicked by it at 60 seconds per move. Someone does sell a nice wood board and piece set up that ties into your home PC and uses whatever program you run on it, but they're rather expensive (like $300 US). That'd be the way to go if you want the strongest OTB set-up possible. I believe that there are 2200 FIDE table top chess computers available for about the price you mentioned.
best bet would be a cheap pda (palm zire?) and a copy of chess tiger or hiarcs or a pocket pc and pocket fritz which is nicer but a bit more expensive.
Just take a look at how powerful these pda programs are getting:
22nd-24th January 2005, Palm HIARCS 9.5 played a four game internet match against the strong Grandmaster Jan Gustafsson of Germany. GM Jan Gustafsson is a rapidly rising GM with a FIDE rating of 2616 Elo which puts him in the top 100 chess players in the world! Palm HIARCS scored a sensational match win 3-1 with 2 wins and 2 draws achieving an unprecedented 2809 Elo performance rating (for comparison Gary Kasparov rates at 2804 Elo)
if you must have a dedicated machine then the saitek cosmos is around £99 in the uk.
Originally posted by ceels1I used to reprogram eproms for a company that serviced people just like yourself. I still have the eprom burner and chess file that upgraded people's computer to Master level. 🙂
I need to upgrade my electronic chess game as I can beat it every time on its hardest level.Can anyone recommend what I might go for as I'm not very well up on the different makes etc.I need a challenge but would not want to go over a hundred pounds.Any ideas?
I recommend you contact the manufacturer and see if an upgrade chip is available.
Originally posted by DrumboWhy didn't you give this advice in your first post? 😕
Go here, buy this:
http://www.classicchessandgames.com/MephistoExclusiveSenatorChessComputer.htm
They don't get any better, you'll NEVER beat it at 30 seconds/move for the computer, unlimited time for you.
Best $500 you'll ever spend.
1. Go to: http://www.wholesalechess.com/
2. Click on "Chess Computer"
3. Sort the items by price, highest to lowest.
4. Scroll down past the over $100 items.
5. You will find a nice selection of offerings from Saitek and Excalibur. I would recommend the Saitek products as I have had better luck with their reliability.