December 27, 2005
By SHELBY LYMAN 

Despite Bobby Fischer's often bizarre political and racial statements of the last decade and resultant pariah status, he remains a person to be taken seriously in matters of chess. On such issues he has usually, although not always, been deeply insightful and prescient. Fischer's youthful demands for professional conditions - like his play, itself - were far ahead of his time. Optimum lighting, suitably designed chess sets and boards, comfortable seating and table arrangements and adequate insulation from spectators and noise are now accepted as norms. Long before computers achieved proficiency, he predicted they would eventually dominate human players. Fischer's insistence that grandmasters should begin play from unfamiliar positions - random chess - is likely an indication of the direction in which the game is headed. His most laudable idea of recent years, "the Fischer clock", has had a revolutionary impact. Its design allows increments to be added to a player's allotted time after each move. Now standard in top-level tournaments, it helps manage the essential chaos of time pressure and brings a new flexibility to the game. Famously the kid from Brooklyn, Fischer is now a grizzled ex-patriot living in Iceland. Although he has not played serious chess for more than 30 years, he probably will continue to have an impact, one way or the other.

Mephisto and Saitek have done a great job developing two of the most sophisticated portable electronic chess games.  In fact they've done an even better job of making the decision on which one is better so difficult that end users get exasperated trying to decide which one's better.

Receiving so many inquiries about these two electronic chess sets, I'm going to write my opinion to simplify the matter.

I'll come right out and say personal preference is the Excalibur Deluxe. This electronic chess unit is my favorite. For most people, a clear and easy to read LCD display is important. Both Saitek and Excalibur have competed in this area, but always seemed to fall short of customer expectations. Finally Excalibur enlarged the display and used traditional... yes traditional piece images that you can understand! Along with that they added voice announcement of moves and various limited voice features which can be turned on or off. Of course it has a built in chess clock, many levels and settings. Best of all, this Excalibur Electronic Chess game snuggles into a clean, professional appearing zipper case for protection, storage, and use. Most people are surprised at how large it is compared to other similar models.  Yes, it's just a tad larger than most PDA's so that's something to keep in mind.

Come Saitek! Yes, Excalibur's main rival recently released a dazzling new electronic chess computer, the Saitek Mephisto MAESTRO. It's compact, sleek, and the very usable. The most unique feature is its backlight! It's the only electronic chess game to offer a backlight display which can be switched on for use at night, let's say on the aircraft, or ... when you're supposed to be asleep! This computer is pleasantly compact with a close fitting leather case. I'd say this one's better for going places.

If you travel a lot and backlighting is important to you, the Maestro's the best choice. If you like voice features, the best display, and ultra-compact doesn't appeal to you, the Deluxe Talking Chess electronic chess computer will be the one.

So there you have it. Electronic chess computers are fun, and enjoyable for the airplane or car. Kids love these computers... in fact the Excalibur computer would be most youngster's first choice.