Case study 4 (Go-Moku)

Abstract

In 1769 Wolfgang von Kempelen unveiled a chess-playing automaton to the Vienna Imperial Court — the ‘Turk’. It was a life-sized figure in Ottoman robes which manipulated the pieces on a chest in front of it with its left hand. Kempelen intended it as a demonstration of engineering virtuosity; but it achieved international repute as an ingenious conjuring trick. After Kempelen’s death in 1804 it came into the possession of a Bavarian musician called Johann Maelzel, who was more of a showman than an engineer. He arranged its most celebrated feat, when in 1809 it defeated Napoleon three times. After the machine’s third victory the emperor swept the pieces from the board and stomped out of the room. (Napoleon had little chance to exercise his chess faculties since his opponents always took good care to lose to him.)