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Fidelity Logo 1
Fidelity Electronics (Fidelity International Inc.),
was an American hearing-aid manufacturing company, founded in 1959, and in March 1970 purchased by Sidney and Myron Samole 1 . Among its other cutting-edge technology, Fidelity Electronics produced high-tech, bio-medical products, such as myo-electric hands, prostheses that could actually be controlled by the brain impulses of amputees. Since 1976, Fidelity Electronics developed and produced dedicated chess computers.
Contents
Photos
2 
Director of Engineering: Ron Nelson 
Kathe and Dan Spracklen debugging Challenger with Apple II in-circuit emulator 3
History
Sidney Samole was the man who dreamed, patented and produced the first commercial chess computer. He closely cooperated with Ron Nelson and later with Dan and Kathe Spracklen. He was credited with inventing the first commercial electronic chess game in the 1970s after watching a Star Trek episode 4 . It seems that he actually had the idea but it was Ron Nelson who really created the machine, called Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 5 6 . After building three working models and four non-working models, Sidney Samole decided to promote his new brainchild at Chicago's Consumer Electronics Show in January 1977 7 . Fidelity prospered. In fact, it seems that the success of the Fidelity Chess Challenger 7 computer 8 , which sold about 600,000 units was responsible for the move from Chicago, Illinois to Miami Florida in January 1981. Fidelity also produced computerized Bridge, Checkers, and Othello games. Fidelity manufactured all its games in the US.
By 1989, a recession was in the wind, and Sidney Samole was sensitive to its warning breezes. He sold Fidelity Electronics at the top of its value to Hegener & Glaser. Sidney's son, Shane Samole, who already started Fidelity Canada in 1984 9 took a loan from his father and started Excalibur Electronics in 1992. Sidney Samole died on July 30, 2000 10 .
Achievements
Fidelity chess computers won the first four World Microcomputer Chess Championships: Chess Challenger won in London 1980, Fidelity X in Travemünde 1981, Elite A/S in Budapest 1983, and Elite X in Glasgow 1984. Moreover, they won the four United States Open Computer Chess Championships, all held in Mobile, Alabama, in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988 (Chessmaster 2100) . A remarkable performance is its first place in the ACM 1988 Championship, tied with Deep Thought.
People
Programmers
Ron Nelson, Kathe and Dan Spracklen were Samole's protégés and "house" programmers. Nelson programs were all Intel 8080 or Zilog Z80 based, while the Spracklens relied on MOS Technology 6502 and later on Motorola 68000 and successors. Soon after Samole sold Fidelity to Hegener & Glaser, some more programmers were associated with Fidelity chess computers.
Misc
- Boris Baczynskyj
- Terry Everett
- Tom Fürstenberg 12
- Peter-Ingolf Gericke
- Florian Glaser since 1989
- Manfred Hegener since 1989
- David Levy 13
- Peter Reckwitz
- Myron Samole
- Shane Samole
- Sidney Samole
Fidelity Computers
Fidelity had various brand names for their chess computers, most notably Chess Challenger. While competing at official tournaments, development- or experimental versions were called Fidelity X or Challenger X.
- Chess Challenger
- Elegance
- Elite
- Excel
- Excellence
- Fidelity
- Fidelity Phantom
- Par Excellence
- Private Line
- Sensory 9
See also
- Chafitz
- Excalibur Electronics
- Fidelity Chessmaster 2100
- Hegener & Glaser
Publications
- Schachcomputer: Markt und Müll, Der Spiegel 49/1979, December 03, 1979, (German) pdf
- Schachcomputer: Tricks und Trug, Der Spiegel 50/1980, December 08, 1980, (German) pdf
- Göran Grottling (1988). Thank you Mister Spock! Ein Interview mit Sid Samole. Modul 4/88, pp. 36-38 (German), pdf hosted by Hein Veldhuis
- Lev Alburt and Al Lawrence (2000). "How About a Nice Game of Chess?" - Any Time. Sidney Samole (1935-2000). Chess Café, October 17, 2000, pdf
Forum Posts
- The Fidelity vs. ICD/Your Move Lawsuit... The Epic by Steven Schwartz, CCC, October 19, 2000 » ICD Corporation
- Ron Nelson by ChessChallenger, Hiarcs Forum, December 23, 2015 » Sidney Samole
Fidelity and Fast Hardware by ChessChallenger, Hiarcs Forum, December 31, 2015
External Links
Fidelity
- Fidelity Electronics from Wikipedia
- Fidelity Electronics from chesscomputers.org
- Fidelity Electronic Chess Computers from The Spacious Mind
- Fidelity | Photo collection by Chewbanta
- Fidelity ..The Golden Years | Photo collection by Chewbanta
- Search Fidelity from the Mastering the Game exhibition and on-line collection from The Computer History Museum
- Fidelity from Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
- Die Geschichte der Firma Fidelity - Teil 1 by Alwin Gruber, Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
- Die Geschichte der Firma Fidelity - Teil 2 by Alwin Gruber, Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
- Die Geschichte der Firma Fidelity - Teil 3 by Alwin Gruber, Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
- Die Geschichte der Firma Fidelity - Teil 4 by Alwin Gruber, Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)
ICGA Tournaments
- Fidelity's ICGA Tournaments
- Challenger's ICGA Tournaments
- Elite's ICGA Tournaments
- Sensory's ICGA Tournaments
- Elegance's ICGA Tournaments
- Private Line's ICGA Tournaments
Chess Computers
- Fidelity from Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)↩︎
- Chess Computer UK by Mike Watters↩︎
- Monty Newborn and Danny Kopec (1989). Results of The Nineteenth ACM North American Computer Chess Championship, in The Twentieth ACM North American Computer Chess Championship from The Computer History Museum, pdf↩︎
- Fidelity X chess computer at the 6th World Chess Championship in Edmonton, Alberta, The Computer History Museum↩︎
- Kings Move - Welcome to the 1989 AGT World Computer Chess Championship. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Courtesy of Peter Jennings, from The Computer History Museum, pdf↩︎
- Frederic Friedel (1990). Elektronischer Sekundant ein Fidelity-Computer bei der Schach-WM in New-York. Computerschach und Spiele 6/90 (German)↩︎
References
The Fidelity Story, Image hosted by Schachcomputer.info Wiki↩︎
16.Fidelity ..The Golden Years | Flickr - Fotosharing by Chewbanta↩︎
John D. Ferguson (1983). In-Circuit Emulation for the Apple II Computer. Byte Magazine, September 1983, pdf↩︎
Göran Grottling (1988). Thank you Mister Spock! Ein Interview mit Sid Samole. Modul 4/88, pp. 36-38 (German), pdf hosted by Hein Veldhuis↩︎
Fidelity Chess Challenger (CC1) from Chess Computer UK by Mike Watters↩︎
Lev Alburt and Al Lawrence (2000). "How About a Nice Game of Chess?" - Any Time. Sidney Samole (1935-2000). Chess Café, October 17, 2000, pdf↩︎
Fidelity Chess Challenger 7 from Schachcomputer.info Wiki (German)↩︎
The Editor (2000). SIDNEY SAMOLE (1935-2000). ICGA Journal Vol. 23, No. 4 - December 2000↩︎
Furstenberg (Dutch)↩︎
