3 hours ago (edited)
I am an Expert level chess player. In 1982 I was not as highly rated, maybe low class B.
The dedicated chess computers in the 1970s started with a 4 MHZ Z80, but were extremely weak mostly due to poor programming. The Spectrum uses a 3.58 Mhz Z80.
In the 1980s dedicated chess computers switched to the 6502 processor which can do 8-bit operations twice as fast as a Z80, starting at 2 Mhz and working up from there. In 1982 they were still not very impressive but were getting better. They didn't become competitive with me until 1983 running at 3 MHZ, and I think the Fidelity brand was using some variation of the Sargon program.
Sometime in 1984, there was a breakthrough with the 4 Mhz 6502 Novag Super Constellation (programmed by Dave Kittinger who would later do the Chessmaster 2000 and 3000 PC programs) which was ranked at the same low-Expert level that I am now. It played better than me even though I had moved up to low Class A in early 1985.
Sometime around 1986, I entered a contest from a British Spectrum magazine where if you could solve a chess problem printed in the magazine you would be entered to win the latest and greatest Spectrum chess program. I sent a postcard to England to enter the contest, and months later I got a tape of the game in the mail. I was able to beat the program. (I had purchased a Spectrum ROM cartridge to be able to play Spectrum games.)
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