Meet the East German Chess Computer That Outsmarted Me!

In this episode I bought an old chess computer on eBay. It is the "Chess-Master" from Radiophon. It is from East Germany (DDR) and in my opinion it was really high tech back then!
This device is decades old! It is from the middle of the 80s. The chess computer can detect your moves with its sensor fields and is really high quality!
Unfortunately it is not turning on. Can we fix it? Let's find out...
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👨‍🔧 About Me
I'm Markus, your tech repair and modding expert. Join me as I extend the lifespan of consumer tech and reduce waste. Sometimes I melt, sometimes I destroy, but most of the time, I repair!
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#ddr #eastgermany #east #chessgame #vintage #chess #germany #german

[@TechWandererYT]

Loved the video, as always.When you said this was expensive, I didn’t know how much 1600 East Marks really was. I looked into it... Officially the exchange rate between East and West German Marks was 1:1, but in reality, that wasn’t really the case. There was some required amount to exchange per day for visitors, whi ch created a black market. *This black market was about 5 West for 10 East Marks.* So 1,600 East Marks was about 800 West Marks. In 1985, the year of manufacturing this device, the exchange rate between West Mark (DM) and U.S. Dollars (USD) was 3.173 DM/USD. *So about US$252.13 at the time.* *Adjusted for inflation, this Chest Master would cost a whopping US$711.49 today.* That’s some baller stuff.

[@CanWeFixThat]

Hi Rob! Awesome that you just did the math! 💪 I was thinking about it, but as you mentioned, it is not that easy to get a really accurate comparison value. 🙂

[@doubler8761]

Hi Markus thanks for the link .what a beast it looks well made as most was back then .My Grandmaster was checked out by a tech guy like you all the Caps were ok and the rest checked out but he still couldn't find the fault in the end said it was degradation of the circuit board .I sold it on ebay for spares in the end .it was slow like you one the higher the level so mainly used it for replaying famous games .cannot wait to get the Grandkingdom set hopefully before yet another household appliance fails and takes the money 😂

[@CanWeFixThat]

Good Morning! It is good quality indeed. I would greatly appreciate Square Off boards having a similar quality. 😁 Let me know your experiences when you finally get the Grand Kingdom Set. 🙌

[@RSOFT92]

Regarding the Strap that held the capacitors on: I'd love to see these used in todays electronics instead of the white glue stuff that gets conductive after a couple of years and suddenly produces a loud bang when you turn the device on. Another interesting thing is the grey Socket, next to the UV Cure Lamp at 16:38: According to "robotrontechnik" (a german website full of information about Computers in the GDR), this plug was used for external devices (floppy disk, printer) on K1510 / K1520 Computers from Robotron (GDR Computer Manufacturer). Here it is used as an interconnection between the boards. The name of this Plug/Socket is "EFS39".

[@CanWeFixThat]

Hello RSOFT92! I am with you! The strap method is far better. Thank you very much for your small excursion about the EFS39 socket. I will check out your mentioned page. Thanks!

[@CallousCoder]

Oh man! I did a fix of DDR chess computer too about 3 years ago. And it’s funny to see the same non solder mask flux ridden pcb in this one too. And also the very dangerous way of mounting a transformer on a metal base plate 😂Those were just weapons instead of games! They wanted to electrocute Wessies 😂

[@CanWeFixThat]

😂 The good old 80s... 😆

[@CallousCoder]

@@CanWeFixThat Were You an Ossie or a Wessie? You do sound German, still could be Austrian too I guess. I really got fascinated by my DDR chess computer repair. Seeing the USSR cloned Z80 in there completely pin compatibel and the TTL logic that I had to change one of with a capitalist 7403 but also completely pin compatible. It made me wonder who copied from whom in order to get the exact same standards just different names. And I remember so well that when in 1998 my brother and I went to Berlin and we met an East German guy and he told us how both the East and the West used propaganda. Except they knew that they were told a partial glorified picture but here (still many people today) believe we have free uncensored I politicized media. That talk opened my eyes and I realized he was so right.

[@CanWeFixThat]

@CallousCoder I am German and a "Wessie" 😉. I was born in the mid-80s, so unfortunately, I can't say too much about it. But sure, propaganda always works very well - until today! I bought a Z80 and was thinking about modding this chess game or, more to say, "overclocking" it; this Z80 has 6 MHz, and maybe getting rid of the dangerous transformer and making it portable with a battery pack and USB-C or something.

[@CallousCoder]

@@CanWeFixThatYou are a youngster ;) I am a 73 so the fall of the USSR really was one of the first big historic events for me. BTW I love your production value. I watched some other videos of you as well, already. Really nice!

[@CanWeFixThat]

@CallousCoder Thank you very much! I am still trying to make the best out of my videos. I hope that my most recent ones are much better than the previous ones! I am glad to have you on board! 😉

[@CalitranoN]

Thank you!, mine had a problem with the pieces don't register, its a Radio Shack 2150L Kasparov. Any idea how to fix that?

[@CanWeFixThat]

Hey! How does it normally work? Does it register the pieces during placement, or do you need to press something?

[@CalitranoN]

@@CanWeFixThat if your white, you push the piece down and it blinks the red leds, then push it down on the destination. then the computer gives a coordinate., by led D, 4 or whatever you push down its piece for it then it flashes a 2nd coordinate of say F, 5 you move it there and press down the piece and you repeat for the whole game... with mine it goes that way fine until maybe 10 moves in, the computer selects its piece and when you press down it doesnt register... it just keeps saying press f5 or whatever and you do it doesn't register its froze until you reset the game with the reset button.?

[@CanWeFixThat]

@CalitranoN Mhhh, what directly was coming to my mind is the question if it is always a failure of a specific row or column like "F" or "5" or something?

[@CalitranoN]

@@CanWeFixThat i'm not thinking that... if i do a power reset., it will come back with another problem not registering a square but a different square? i bought magnets and put them on there, nothing., i tap with my finger nothing. Then sometimes it does?

[@CanWeFixThat]

@CalitranoN Okay, so more or less a general issue. I think the first step I would do is to see if you can find any electrolyte capacitors inside the device and swap them out.