Advances in Man-Machine Play

Abstract

In 1968, Mac Hack Six (Greenblatt, Eastlake and Crocker 1967) became the first program to compete at the level of the average U.S. tournament player. At that time few people took the entry of programs into tournaments seriously. The programs were viewed primarily as a curiosity and, perhaps, a slight bother. Inevitably, the terminals on which the computer’s moves were relayed to the tournament site were noisy, disturbing the other participants. Hence special arrangements had to be made for computer programs in tournaments such as separate rooms or tables. Fortunately, with the exception of a few vocal opponents, most people felt that the machines provided an interesting addition or sideshow to a tournament. Albeit relatively weak, computers scored a few points against humans in chess tournaments in the early 1970s. This started to cause some bad feelings from humans who lost points to the computers, feeling that they had been adversely affected by the participation of the programs.