The Endgame Tactician: Happy Holidays & Palm Hiarcs
Happy Holidays!
I bought a Palm Z22 and loaded Palm Hiarcs (ELO 2506), Morphy's 472 known games, and 24 issues of Endgame Corner. It's a great chess combo that lets me study while on the go.
| Cost: | $145 |
| Battery Life (playing): | 16 hours |
| Battery Life (analyzing): | 8 hours |
| Weight: | 3.4 ounces |
Its strength can be adjusted from 750 to 2500 FIDE in increments of 50. I tried the 750, 950, 1150, 1250, 1350, 1450, and 1550 levels and generally the mistakes looked intelligent from 950 upwards. Its opening book has 377,379 positions, although it lacks endgame tablebases.
How is its analysis? Palm Hiarcs solved 2/3 complex rook endgames in 2-3 seconds each. Fritz solved them all in about 20-30 seconds each.
And it can handle a large PGN database of master games. :)
Alternatives
Excalbur makes an $80 handheld chess computer, but it can't load PGN or PDF files or take notes and its analysis capabilities are only 2000 ELO. Fine for playing, though.
Monroi ($359) makes a device with even fewer features for more money. It only allows recording games, but it's allowed in official tournaments and instantly relays your games on its website. BDK says Monrois are evil. But Polly used one, and she doesn't seem evil to me.
Example Game
In this game I tell Hiarcs I will take 10sec/move (Casual Move Time Preset=10) and ask it to play at 1550 USCF strength (Elo Level=1450 Elo), taking into account my speed. Hiarcs plays a crisp middlegame with a few intelligent mistakes, but its endgame is noticeably weaker.
