Constellation

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Constellation (Nickname Connie), a dedicated chess computer with a 8-bit 6502 CPU and 16 KB ROM and 2 KB RAM, manufactured and market in 1983 by Novag, running a program developed by primary author David Kittinger, supported by chess master Scott McDonald. It was the forerunner of the mighty Super Constellation, and participated along with its big brother at the WMCCC 1983 in Budapest.

=Innovations= The Constellation applied the attack map / offset map move generation technique as proposed by Mikhail Botvinnik. In evaluation Connie already preprocessed the piece-square tables, becoming famous as pre scan heuristics in particular credited to the Super Connie due to its playing style.

=See also=
 * Astronomy
 * Chessmaster 2000
 * MyChess
 * Super Constellation

=Publications=
 * Tony Harrington (1983). Inter~Galactic Moves. Personal Computer World, October 1983
 * David Kittinger, Scott McDonald (1984). Report from the U.S. Open. Computer Chess Digest Annual 1984, pp. 15-33
 * Tom Fürstenberg (1984). Micro Chess Computers. ICCA Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3

=Forum Posts=
 * GM Kaufman v.Novag Constellation 3.6 QR Odds (Moves 1-40) by Steve B, CCC, July 03, 2010 » Larry Kaufman
 * Will Connie Ever Castle?? by Steve B, CCC, July 14, 2010
 * GM Kaufman v.Novag Constellation 3.6 QR Odds (Moves 41-55) by Steve B, CCC, August 10, 2010

=External Links=
 * Constellation's ICGA Tournaments
 * Novag Constellation from Chess Computer UK by Mike Watters
 * NOVAG Constellation 3.6MHz from ChessComputers.org
 * Constellation 3.6 MHz (Novag) from My Chess Computers - the heroes
 * Novag Constellation by Tom Luif
 * Novag Constellation from Schachcomputer.info - Wiki (German)
 * Novag Constellation from Museo Computadoras (Spanish)
 * Constellation (disambiguation) from Wikipedia
 * Constellation from Wikipedia
 * Constellation program from Wikipedia
 * Lockheed Constellation from Wikipedia

=References=

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