Saitek was formed in 1987 when the owner Erich Winkler decided to change the name of his company which had previously operated under the name of SciSys since 1979.

Erich Winkler

Both SciSys and Saitek have enjoyed over the years the use of the name Kasparov through the cooperation of the chess world champion Garry Kasparov.

The use of this brand name helped their sales across the world and when they bought Hegener & Glaser’s Mephisto in 1994, they became the world’s largest manufacturer of dedicated chess computers.

Saitek over the years have introduced an enormous range of competitively priced attractive chess computers and they still introduce new models into the market today. 

Unfortunately exactly like all the other remaining major manufacturers Excalibur and Novag, nothing new in the way of chess playing software has been given to the public in recent years. The software remains the same it is just repackaged over and over again in different and new and enticing looking casings. But, who can blame them, after all everyone of today’s competitors has been doing exactly the same thing for the last dozen or so years.

The only people who suffer from this deceptive strategy is of course the unsuspecting customer who if they decide to add a second computer to their collection from the same manufacturer, then they will most likely end up buying the exact same game software and playing strength that they already possess.

But after this critique on the sales policies of all the manufacturers who still produce dedicated chess computers today, it should be noted that Saitek still brings to the market well built and attractive chess computers and most of these will probably outlast the the more fragile looking designs of many of their competitors.

World Champion Gary Kasparov who endorsed Saitek and SciSys by allowing them to use the “KASPAROV” Brand Name on their chess computers. Picture taken from Saitek Sales Literature.

A slogan used in some “SAITEK” Sales Ads.

A Gary Kasparov introduction of “SAITEK” and the “KASPAROV” Brand in some sales literature dated around 1987. Can you recognize the chess computer? Can you recognize the desktop?

“SWISS-LED PRECISION”

Saitek Computers were made in Hong Kong/China, countries which in the 70’s-90’s used to have a quality stigma associated to them. This piece of marketing language must have been used to try and offset this by focusing a Buyer’s thought to the “Swiss” quality associated to watches and precision instruments, which of course Saitek (previosuly SciSys) could effectively use since the owner Erich Winkler was born in Switzerland.

The SAITEK chess computers below have been modified to run at a higher clock speed enabling them to reach higher ELO ratings in Active 30s/move and Tournament 40s/20 levels.