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The Turk (Automaton)

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000		Chess variants (14 games)
C00		French Defense (2 games)

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THE TURK (AUTOMATON) (born 1769, died 1854, 85 years old) Hungary [what is this?] The Turk was designed by Hungarian engineer and inventor Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen in 1769. It was billed as a "chess playing automaton" capable of beating even the strongest challengers. During a performance, the showman would open two cabinets to display a large empty space, and then a third cabinet to display an area of tightly packed machinery, presumably the "brains" of the contraption. The secret of this hoax was that a normal sized man could recline within the machine, and remain unseen by the audience by repositioning himself during the initial display of the device's interior. Its first performance was for the Habsburg Court in Vienna in 1770. It was exhibited thereafter although somewhat intermittently for the next 84 years. After von Kempelen's death in 1804, the Turk was purchased by Bavarian showman Johann Nepomuk Maelzel. In 1809 during the Wagram campaign Napoleon Bonaparte played against it in Vienna. For a period it was in the private collection of Prince Eugene de Beauharnais but Maelzel acquired it again in 1817. Further exhibitions followed but in 1837 both Maelzel and the Turks operator, Schlumberger (who was the tutor of Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint Amant) died from Yellow fever while returning to the USA from Havana. The Turk ended its days in the Chinese Museum in Philadelphia where it was destroyed by a fire in 1854. The two other famous chess automatons built subsequently were Ajeeb (Automaton) and Mephisto (Automaton). Wikipedia article: Mechanical Turk Last updated: 2021-08-23 09:00:35

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page 1 of 1; 21 games    Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Napoleon Bonaparte vs The Turk 0-1 24 1809 Schoenbrunn Palace Exhibition C20 King's Pawn Game 2. The Turk vs NN 1-0 31 1818 Exhibition game C33 King's Gambit Accepted 3. Brandreth vs The Turk   0-1 19 1819 London exhibithion 000 Chess variants 4. Cochrane vs The Turk   0-1 22 1819 London exhibithion 000 Chess variants 5. Sturmer vs The Turk 0-1 20 1820 The Turk Show in London 000 Chess variants 6. Cochrane vs The Turk 1-0 30 1820 London 000 Chess variants 7. Hook vs The Turk 0-1 32 1820 Odds game 000 Chess variants 8. Strickland vs The Turk 0-1 38 1820 London Exhibition 000 Chess variants 9. Cochrane vs The Turk   0-1 34 1820 London exhibithion 000 Chess variants 10. Hubbard vs The Turk 1-0 38 1820 Casual Game, Odds Pf7, London 000 Chess variants 11. Hubbard vs The Turk   0-1 25 1820 Casual Game, Odds Pf7, London 000 Chess variants 12. Hubbard vs The Turk   0-1 31 1820 Casual Game, Odds Pf7, London 000 Chess variants 13. F Mercier vs The Turk   0-1 25 1820 Exhibition game 000 Chess variants 14. B Keen vs The Turk   0-1 31 1820 Exhibition game 000 Chess variants 15. B Keen vs The Turk   1-0 17 1820 Turk Exhibition 000 Chess variants 16. Lomax vs The Turk   0-1 22 1820 Turk Exhibition 000 Chess variants 17. C Vezin vs The Turk ½-½ 57 1827 friendly C00 French Defense 18. Mrs. Fisher vs The Turk 1-0 41 1827 Exhibition C00 French Defense 19. The Turk vs A Zerega 1-0 35 1845 Private Exhibition C42 Petrov Defense 20. The Turk vs C Stanley ½-½ 40 1845 Private Exhibition C38 King's Gambit Accepted 21. The Turk vs S Heilbuth   1-0 36 1859 Turk Exhibition C70 Ruy Lopez  page 1 of 1; 21 games

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 7 ·  Later Kibitzing> May-26-02    Sneaky: An description of how the Turk operated is here: Part I - http://www.randi.org/jr/01-19-2000.... Part II - http://www.randi.org/jr/02-03-2000.... May-31-03    lostemperor: I know how the Turk is operated. I can explain all the magic tricks of David Copperfield and others after looking at it for 10 minutes. What I don't know is how the Turk can play chess so well! May-31-03    Honza Cervenka: The Turk played (in this game with Napoleon) so well as Johann Allgaier sat inside...:-) May-31-03    morphynoman2: Dont forget Egdar Allan Poe's long article about The Turk. Jun-01-03    lostemperor: Sorry, what was E.A.P's article? Jun-02-03    Sneaky: I found Poe's article here http://www.eapoe.org/works/essays/m... Jan-22-04    mack: Do no more of The Turk's games remain? Everyone knows about Napoleon game, but "he" did played many more games with different operators... Jan-22-04    capanegra: I read that Beethoven once composed a fine piece that was played by a kind of music box during the Turk’s games, but latter he regretted. Jan-22-04    TrueFiendish: You know, it has to be said (as it has been before) that the Napster was a woefully bad chess player. Jan-24-04    Benjamin Lau: It's too bad that this is the only game of the Turk that has come down to us, the operator was a very strong player who beat almost all of the masters of the day. Jun-09-04    DarkSwordPixel: I think some semi-old issues of Chess Life magizene have other Turk scores. Jun-10-04    chessgames.com: If anybody can locate any more games by the Turk it would be delightful. Jun-10-04    Benzol: Does that also apply to Ajeeb and Mephisto? Jun-10-04    gawain: There is a book by Tom Standage, The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine (Walker & Co 2002). Available via Amazon.com. No game scores, though. Jul-09-04    mack: There was a book - a rather expensive one - which had game scores and fragments in. I'm not prepared to shell out for it, unfortunately. See www.theturkbook.com for some more info. Sep-13-04    mack: <If anybody can locate any more games by the Turk it would be delightful.> Check out the most recently submitted games. Sep-13-04    Leviathan: <any more games by the Turk> The review of a book about the Turk, featuring a game and some positions: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/revie... Sep-14-04    Knight13: Is the picture really Turk? Sep-14-04    Knight13: Wow! He played with Napoleon! Sep-16-04    morphy234: wait, so... The Turk was a man operating a machine as a hoax?? WTF? Anyone fill me in on this? Sep-17-04    mack: http://www.geocities.com/siliconval... Sep-24-04    morphy234: Whoever was in the cabinet will forever remain a mystery. Sep-24-04    Giancarlo: Wow, thats an awesome srtoy <mack>! I never knew the Turk worked that way. I always thought he was a real person. But someone was operating him? I wonder who... Whoever it was was a good chess player! Sep-24-04    Willem Wallekers: Like Horva Cervenka (see above) already told us the Turk was apparently operated by chessmaster Allgaier, who had a variation of the King's Gambit named after him. He seems to have been a very small and flexible man and fitted in the cabinet under the chessboard. Sep-24-04    ConLaMismaMano: Didn't a movie come out last year about The Turk (If i'm not mistaken, the movie was actually called "The Turk")? Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 7) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 7 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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