Research sources and dates

Evidence and chronology

Consulted on 2 October 2026. An original manufacturer document can be hosted by a collector or manual website: issuer and host are credited separately. Undated source pages and crawl dates cannot establish priority over the collector’s own comments. A later page repeating ChessEval is not independent corroboration. The date register links the original collector-note dates to each addition.

Source register (JSON) · Collector notes and source dates (JSON)

Novag Citrine instruction manual

Open at Manualzz

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Novag / Perfect Technology Ltd.
Hosting website	Manualzz
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Technical Data and Features appendix; power-supply instructions
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Novag Obsidian instruction manual

Open at Manualzz

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Novag / Perfect Technology Ltd.
Hosting website	Manualzz
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Appendix V.C; Sections I.A–B and III
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Novag Sapphire II instruction manual

Open at ManualsLib

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Novag / Perfect Technology Ltd.
Hosting website	ManualsLib
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	2000 (copyright on printed page 28)
Locator	Scan pages 20, 26–27 and 29; printed pages 19, 25–26 and 28
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Novag Super Expert search addendum

Open at Manualzz

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Novag
Hosting website	Manualzz
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Selection-mode addendum; Solve Mate paragraph
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Saitek Centurion manual

Open at ManualsLib

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Saitek
Hosting website	ManualsLib
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Section 9.3, scan/printed page 12; quick start
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Saitek Cosmos user manual

Open at ManualsLib

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Saitek
Hosting website	ManualsLib
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Keys and Features; contents and playing-level sections. Technical-specification page not retrieved.
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Fidelity Chesster 6120 owner’s manual

Open at ManualsLib

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Fidelity Electronics
Hosting website	ManualsLib
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Cover model 6120; voice section 1.15; replay 2.4; take-back 2.9
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Fidelity Travel Master 6122 owner’s manual

Open at ManualsLib

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Fidelity Electronics
Hosting website	ManualsLib
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Scan page 3 (introduction); page 10, section 7 (printed page 14)
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Fidelity Excel 68000 6094 owner’s manual

Open at ManualsLib

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Fidelity International
Hosting website	ManualsLib
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Cover model 6094; scan pages 4 and 12
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Excalibur Phantom Force 740D manual

Open at ManyManuals

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Excalibur Electronics
Hosting website	ManyManuals
Evidence type	Manufacturer document reproduced by a third-party host
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Printed pages 4 and 12: start-up and playing levels
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Richard Lang question-and-answer interview

Open at Michael Watters / ChessComputerUK

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Richard Lang, first-person interview
Hosting website	Michael Watters / ChessComputerUK
Evidence type	Creator testimony reproduced by a collector
Document date	2003 (interview heading)
Locator	Questions 6, 9 and 16
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Novag Star Diamond: documentation discrepancy

Open at ChessComputerUK

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Michael Watters
Hosting website	ChessComputerUK
Evidence type	Collector account; not independent hardware verification
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Specification comparison and manual/box discussion
Review status	Consulted as a discrepancy lead; hardware fields held
Consulted	2026-10-02

Electronic chess manual index

Open at Chess House

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Chess House
Hosting website	Chess House
Evidence type	Manual-host index; does not verify document contents
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Novag, Excalibur and Mephisto listings
Review status	Index consulted; several linked PDFs could not be retrieved
Consulted	2026-10-02

SciSys Chess Champion Mark V manual host

Open at Schachcomputer-Online-Museum

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	Schachcomputer-Online-Museum
Hosting website	Schachcomputer-Online-Museum
Evidence type	Collector host with manual links
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Manufacturer-manual links at the foot of the page
Review status	Host consulted; linked manual not retrieved
Consulted	2026-10-02

Source field	Information
Issuer / author	ICGA tournament database contributors
Hosting website	Game AI Forum
Evidence type	Institutional retrospective compilation
Document date	Not established; retrieval and event dates are not publication dates
Locator	Data collection and contributors
Review status	Consulted
Consulted	2026-10-02

Research sources and dates.

Evidence and chronology

Novag Citrine instruction manual

Novag Obsidian instruction manual

Novag Sapphire II instruction manual

Novag Super Expert search addendum

Saitek Centurion manual

Saitek Cosmos user manual

Fidelity Chesster 6120 owner’s manual

Fidelity Travel Master 6122 owner’s manual

Fidelity Excel 68000 6094 owner’s manual

Excalibur Phantom Force 740D manual

Richard Lang question-and-answer interview

Novag Star Diamond: documentation discrepancy

Electronic chess manual index

SciSys Chess Champion Mark V manual host

ICGA tournament database: provenance

ICGA result: Travemunde

ICGA result: Travemunde Playoff

ICGA result: Budapest

ICGA result: Glasgow

ICGA result: Lyon

ICGA result: Vancouver

ICGA result: Madrid

Gideon program authorship

Chessmachine program authorship

Game: Elite Auto Sensory – Mephisto X

Game: Chess 2001 – Prestige Challenger

Game: Princhess X – Fidelity Elite X

Game: Fidelity Elite X – Psion

Game: Fidelity X – Philidor X

Game: Fidelity X – Chess Champion Mark V

Game: Gideon – Mephisto

Game: Mephisto – Échec 1.9

Game: Mephisto X – Gideon

Game: Kasparov Sparc – Chessmachine

Game: Chessmachine – RISC 2500