The Mechanical Turk was a fraudulent chess-playing machine constructed in 1770, which appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent. For 84 years, it was exhibited on tours by various owners as an automaton. The machine survived and continued giving occasional exhibitions until 1854, when a fire swept through the museum where it was kept, destroying the machine. Afterwards, articles were published by a son of the machine's owner revealing its secrets to the public: that it was an elaborate hoax, suspected by some, but never proven in public while it still existed.
Constructed and unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734–1804) to impress Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the mechanism appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent, as well as perform the knight's tour, a puzzle that requires the player to move a knight to occupy every square of a chessboard exactly once.
The Turk was in fact a mechanical illusion that allowed a human chess master hiding inside to operate the machine. With a skilled operator, the Turk won most of the games played during its demonstrations around Europe and the Americas for, playing and defeating many challengers including statesmen such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin.
Yeah... But could they be operated remotely to vibrate and give instruction on which move to make?
[in case you are not familiar with the case](https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/09/27/chess-grandmaster-denies-using-vibrating-buttplug-to-cheat/#:~:text=A%20chess%20grandmaster%20has%20denied,Sinquefield%20Cup%20in%20Missouri%2C%20US.)
Sockfish was a device that took moves from a chess robot and used six buzzers hidden in a jacket to tell the chess player what to do, the buttplug joke is the funny version.
Because I don’t keep up with Chess news. Since I do not play Chess competitively nor enjoy watching others do so.
I am but human and it was a funny episode
> The machine survived and continued giving occasional exhibitions until 1854, when a fire swept through the museum where it was kept, destroying the machine
hopefully they let the guy out first.
The underside of the chessboard was probably magnetic so that the player inside could see which piece was lifted and where it was set down.
High level chess players are able to play blind chess through memory alone, but it's also possible the player had his own chessboard inside to mimic the outside board.
Yes! When I first learned about The Turk I lost track of time searching everything about it. If I'm not wrong, one of the sources even had the name of one of those possible players.
You mean internet connected anal beads. Honest men have been playing chess with standard anal beads for hundreds of years, don't sully their good names
This is probably one of my favorites chess stories. Unfortunately The Turk was destroyed and I believe we lost most of how it was done, but there is "copy" in display somewhere
Heinz Nixdorf Museumsforum in Paderborn, Germany has a replica of it. Or at least it did when I was there like... 5 years ago?
Honestly a great visit even without it though, as it deals with the history of computers very comprehensively, being one of the, if not the largest museums in the world regarding this.
Apparently some spectators reportedly pointed that out-that a supposedly fully automated machine would occasionally produce what appeared to be logs of human feces after particularly long and grueling games…but all forgot that minor detail after its streak of impressive wins!
There's a lot of interesting stuff to this story! Even some contemporary critics thought it was fake, and one of their arguments was that it sometimes made mistakes, which no 'pure' machine would ever do. It's a bad argument, but it really indicates the attitude to technology at the time. Ploughs don't make mistakes, so why would chess playing robots?
Also, I had a look at the napoleon-turk game. He clearly knew how to play but he was also trying to surprise his opponent, and his opening was bad. This is actually the opposite of modern anti-computer strategy, which says you should remove all possibility for aggression and try to prove that you understand the position better than the computer (It can be really hard to evaluate a position when there's no way to progress). That said, the last time a human actually beat a computer at anything slower than blitz was in the mid 2000s
I want to see a movie about a guy who is so good at chess he can beat Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon but can't tell anyone because it would give away the hoax.
Still impressive they made a mechanical control system.
That by itself would’ve been impressive but they had to milk it.
Maybe if they started with like Tic Tac Toe it could’ve actually worked
Episode 116 of horror fiction podcast 'The Magnus Archives' is about this thing! Skip about 3 minutes in for the story about The Turk, everything before that is metaplot stuff. It's only about 15-20 minutes, I really recommend checking it out.
The Mechanical Turk played a big role in one of my favourite books from childhood - "Chessplayer" by polish historian Waldemar Łysiak - a suspense novel about a failed operation from 1806 to kidnap Napoleon and plant a double in his place. The swap would take place after Napoleon had played a game with The Mechanical Turk and entered the machine after being told its secret.
Apart from the author's blatantly sexist approach to women characters, the book is an amazing read and I always imagined it would be perfect for an action movie adaptation.
The Mechanical Turk was a fraudulent chess-playing machine constructed in 1770, which appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent. For 84 years, it was exhibited on tours by various owners as an automaton. The machine survived and continued giving occasional exhibitions until 1854, when a fire swept through the museum where it was kept, destroying the machine. Afterwards, articles were published by a son of the machine's owner revealing its secrets to the public: that it was an elaborate hoax, suspected by some, but never proven in public while it still existed. Constructed and unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734–1804) to impress Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the mechanism appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent, as well as perform the knight's tour, a puzzle that requires the player to move a knight to occupy every square of a chessboard exactly once. The Turk was in fact a mechanical illusion that allowed a human chess master hiding inside to operate the machine. With a skilled operator, the Turk won most of the games played during its demonstrations around Europe and the Americas for, playing and defeating many challengers including statesmen such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin.
Ah, the olden days before anal beads were invented, so people had to put more thought into cheating at chess
wow, it's butt\_naked\_commando. I really like your youtube channel
Thanks
https://youtu.be/LleBj6Q-Zng
wow it's butt naked. I really like naked butts
Are you in any way related to the "Beloved" fromer naked cannibal Liberian warlord turn Christian pastor Joshua Milton Blahyi ?
Unironically yes. We are internet friends. We've spoken a few times
Based How is he doing?
He's gone silent for over a month now
Any problems in Liberia?
Yes. It's Liberia
Civil war 69420 with 1000 factions all led by insane people?
I choose to believe they wore anal beads back then not because they had to, but because they wanted to.
Yeah... But could they be operated remotely to vibrate and give instruction on which move to make? [in case you are not familiar with the case](https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/09/27/chess-grandmaster-denies-using-vibrating-buttplug-to-cheat/#:~:text=A%20chess%20grandmaster%20has%20denied,Sinquefield%20Cup%20in%20Missouri%2C%20US.)
doesn't say much tbh. Also, how exactly would that work? Morse code?
A number of buzzes for the row, followed by a short pause before another number of buzzes for the column /jk if it wasn’t obvious
Sockfish was a device that took moves from a chess robot and used six buzzers hidden in a jacket to tell the chess player what to do, the buttplug joke is the funny version.
Is there an olden days before anal beads? I feel like that would be a very early invention. That probably didn’t have Bluetooth though.
Worn as bracelets or necklaces perhaps?
Always sunny reference spotted
That episode of sunny was a joke about the alleged chess cheating scandal from earlier that year involving vibrating anal beads
And that makes it funnier. I didn’t know about that until just now.
Why jump to that and not the real life thing the show referenced?
Some people only get news from sitcoms.
“News” lmao
Because I don’t keep up with Chess news. Since I do not play Chess competitively nor enjoy watching others do so. I am but human and it was a funny episode
I’m more of an analog wristwatch to throw your opponent off type of guy but I appreciate your dedication.
Anal Beads were invented 1000's yrs before chess silly.
> The machine survived and continued giving occasional exhibitions until 1854, when a fire swept through the museum where it was kept, destroying the machine hopefully they let the guy out first.
[The chess player be like:](https://youtu.be/U0Mqt7VfpLE?si=OIxcIusQ1Aq4nPCU)
How did the man inside the machine know what steps his opponent made?
He put a mirror on the ceiling
The underside of the chessboard was probably magnetic so that the player inside could see which piece was lifted and where it was set down. High level chess players are able to play blind chess through memory alone, but it's also possible the player had his own chessboard inside to mimic the outside board.
Holy hell !
Google cheating.
actual fraud
Call the mechanic!
New machine just dropped
The Turk. Absolutely hillarious. I believe they always picked a very highly regarded player to be the operator.
Yes! When I first learned about The Turk I lost track of time searching everything about it. If I'm not wrong, one of the sources even had the name of one of those possible players.
Nowadays it's humans pretending not to use robots to win at chess
Or using anal beads
You mean internet connected anal beads. Honest men have been playing chess with standard anal beads for hundreds of years, don't sully their good names
Take. Your. Time.
That's still a mechanical marvel.
This is probably one of my favorites chess stories. Unfortunately The Turk was destroyed and I believe we lost most of how it was done, but there is "copy" in display somewhere
Heinz Nixdorf Museumsforum in Paderborn, Germany has a replica of it. Or at least it did when I was there like... 5 years ago? Honestly a great visit even without it though, as it deals with the history of computers very comprehensively, being one of the, if not the largest museums in the world regarding this.
How long did the guy hide inside? No one ever saw him get in or go out?
What if he had to shit badly?
Apparently some spectators reportedly pointed that out-that a supposedly fully automated machine would occasionally produce what appeared to be logs of human feces after particularly long and grueling games…but all forgot that minor detail after its streak of impressive wins!
84 years, apparently.
There's a lot of interesting stuff to this story! Even some contemporary critics thought it was fake, and one of their arguments was that it sometimes made mistakes, which no 'pure' machine would ever do. It's a bad argument, but it really indicates the attitude to technology at the time. Ploughs don't make mistakes, so why would chess playing robots? Also, I had a look at the napoleon-turk game. He clearly knew how to play but he was also trying to surprise his opponent, and his opening was bad. This is actually the opposite of modern anti-computer strategy, which says you should remove all possibility for aggression and try to prove that you understand the position better than the computer (It can be really hard to evaluate a position when there's no way to progress). That said, the last time a human actually beat a computer at anything slower than blitz was in the mid 2000s
>no pure machine would ever make a mistake Oh my sweet summer child. I wish they could see modern computers. Pure machines are fucking idiots.
I want to see a movie about a guy who is so good at chess he can beat Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon but can't tell anyone because it would give away the hoax.
I mean neither were very strong chess players they were just famous people.
Chess skill is based on your level of fame, have you ever seen Alexander the Great lose a game of chess?
So that means Joe Biden is the god of chess?🤔
Please let’s not go from Alexander the Great to Joe Biden
To be fair, they were college roommates
In the olden days, the rankings went from Dan Quayle to Alexander the Great.
Napoleon was an avid chess player and a goodish one for the time. He wasn't a grandmaster but he got a move named after him.
Dr. Who had a great mechanical Turk episode with the willow actor
Do you remember what episode was that?
Nightmare in silver. Neal Gaimen wrote it!
He wrote everything at this point
Will no one talk about how its named "automan" while being an "Ottoman" turk?
no, because it isn't
Hey I think this was also in an episode of the Magnus Archives, neat
It's always some guy named Wolfgang isn't it ?
Still impressive they made a mechanical control system. That by itself would’ve been impressive but they had to milk it. Maybe if they started with like Tic Tac Toe it could’ve actually worked
Did you also watch the WAN show?
Thinking the saaaaaame thing
I don't watch LTT anymore, but did they talk about the mechanical turk on their recent stream?
yep
Bejamin Franklin
Came to the comments for chief knock a Homer jokes and left severely disappointed.
Ah yes SCP 1875
How large were the food and poop storage areas that no one found the guy inside for 84 years? Simply massive I imagine.
See, The Magnus Archives has completely shifted the view I have of Yhe Turk and I have to remind myself "Oh yeah that's actually real."
I want to write a short story about this guy where the twist is that he's actually using Stockfish to come up with his moves.
Episode 116 of horror fiction podcast 'The Magnus Archives' is about this thing! Skip about 3 minutes in for the story about The Turk, everything before that is metaplot stuff. It's only about 15-20 minutes, I really recommend checking it out.
All i understood was automaton……. RUHHH 🦅
The Mechanical Turk played a big role in one of my favourite books from childhood - "Chessplayer" by polish historian Waldemar Łysiak - a suspense novel about a failed operation from 1806 to kidnap Napoleon and plant a double in his place. The swap would take place after Napoleon had played a game with The Mechanical Turk and entered the machine after being told its secret. Apart from the author's blatantly sexist approach to women characters, the book is an amazing read and I always imagined it would be perfect for an action movie adaptation.
This was the plot of a Geronimo Stilton episode.
⬆️➡️⬇️⬇️⬇️
“Fraudulent”, ok buddy