The ChessMachine was a

chess computer Computer chess includes both hardware (dedicated computers) and software capable of playing chess. Computer chess provides opportunities for players to practice even in the absence of human opponents, and also provides opportunities for analysi ...

sold between 1991 and 1995 by TASC (The Advanced Software Company). It was unique at the time for incorporating both an ARM2 coprocessor for the chess engine on an ISA card which plugged into an

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a tea ...

and a software interface running on the PC to display a chess board and control the engine. The ISA card was sold with a CPU running at either 16 MHz or 32 MHz, and 128 KB, 512 KB, or 1 MB of onboard memory for

transposition table {{no footnotes, date=November 2017 A transposition table is a cache of previously seen positions, and associated evaluations, in a game tree generated by a computer game playing program. If a position recurs via a different sequence of moves, the ...

s. This made economic sense at the time of introduction because mainstream PCs were only running from 10 MHz to 25 MHz. Two engines were sold with the card: The King by Johann de Koning and

Gideon Gideon (; ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. Gideon was the son of Joash, from the Ab ...

by Ed Schröder. Gideon was famed for winning two

World Computer Chess Championship World Computer Chess Championship (WCCC) is an event held periodically since 1974 where computer chess engines compete against each other. The event is organized by the International Computer Games Association. It is often held in conjunction with ...

s on this hardware. The King later became the engine used in the popular

Chessmaster ''Chessmaster'' is a chess-playing computer game series, which is owned and developed by Ubisoft. It is the best-selling chess franchise in history, with more than five million units sold . Timeline *1986: '' The Chessmaster 2000''. First pu ...

series of chess programs. TASC later incorporated the technology into a dedicated unit, sold from 1993 to 1997. There were two models, the R30 and R40, running at 30 MHz and 40 MHz respectively, and having 512 KB and 1 MB of transposition tables, respectively. The units were in small boxes about the size of a chess clock, which attached via a serial cable to a wooden sensory board called the SmartBoard. They were only sold with The King chess engine. This was the end of the era of strong dedicated chess computers, and these two models are acknowledged as the strongest dedicated chess computers that were ever sold. At the height of its strength, the R30 attained a rating over 2350 on computer rating lists, higher than any other dedicated unit. According to the SSDF rating list, the R30 held its own against its contemporary programs running a

Pentium Pentium is a brand used for a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel. The original Pentium processor from which the brand took its name was first released on March 22, 1993. After that, the Pentium II and P ...

-90 MHz and won against other dedicated units.

References

Swedish Chess Computer Association The Swedish Chess Computer Association ( sv, Svenska schackdatorföreningen, SSDF) is an organization that tests computer chess software by playing chess programs against one another and producing a rating list. On September 26, 2008, the list was ...

(SSDF) - R30 entry
Gideon on the ChessmachineSchachcomputer.info - The Wiki for chess computers
Chess computers ARM-based home computers {{AI-stub