The Mechanical Turk, also known as the Turk, was supposedly an automaton that could play high-level chess and beat most of its contemporary intellectuals and prominent figures.
The machine had the shape of a mysterious Turk wizard-like figure, sitting at a wooden cabinet and holding a smoking pipe. A chessboard rested in front of it. Inside the cabinet, there was seemingly nothing but mechanical parts to make the machine work.
A reproduction of the Turk
The Turk was created in 1770 by German writer and inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen, who claimed that his machine was an automaton that could play chess on its own.
A self-portrait of Wolfgang von Kempelen. Image: Wolfgang von Kempelen, Wikimedia.
The Turk's first demonstration happened before Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and her court when it defeated everyone who played against it. After that, many other owners toured the world, exhibiting the prowess of the artificial chess player.
People from all over the world were impressed by the machine that could beat humans at chess. Image: Iogann Nepomuck Maelzel, Wikimedia.
During its touring years, the pseudo-automaton defeated prominent public figures like Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin. The Turk even had the chance of facing the famous Francois-Andre Danican Philidor, who was considered to be the best chess player in the world at his time. Although Philidor won, he stated that it was one of his toughest matches.
Although the Turk became famous worldwide for being a solid chess-playing automaton, that was not true. The machine did move around like a human, but it could not play chess independently.
Many drawings tried to depict the workings of the Turk. Image: Joseph Racknitz, Wikimedia.
Instead, strong chess masters would hide inside the fake automaton and operate it from inside it. Although many people suspected that was the case (including the famous writer Edgar Allan Poe), no one could successfully explain how the mechanism worked.
An attempt to explain how a chess master could operate the Turk from its interior. Image: Joseph Racknitz,
Wikimedia.
The Turk continued its exhibitions for more than 80 years until it was retired and donated to the Chinese Museum of Charles Willson Peale. In 1854, a fire destroyed part of the museum along with the mechanical chess player. Only after its destruction did the son of one of its owners reveal its secret in a series of articles he wrote for
The Chess Monthly, a monthly magazine in the United States.
The fact that a machine could play chess better than humans caused a worldwide uproar. The existence of a device that could beat humans in an intellectual endeavor such as chess made some people fear what was yet to come.
However, the Turk also inspired scientists to develop their own intelligent machines. In a way, the fake chess automaton sparked the flame for the creation of artificial intelligence and paved the way for today's chess engines.
The Difference Engine, which paved the way for the birth of artificial intelligence, was inspired by the Turk. Photo: Geni, CC.
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