Automatons are machines that plays or appears to play chess. The first automaton was the Turk from Bratislava. It was first constructed and unveiled in 1769 in Vienna and was the first cabinet illusion. The Turk was considered the most famous illusion in history. It was built by Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734-1804), also known as Kempelen Fargas (or Farkas) in 6 months. Some of its operators included Jacques Mouret, William Lewis (British champion), William Schlumberger (St Amant's teacher), and Johann Allgaier.
In 1769 Wolfgang von Kempelen observed a Frenchman named Pelletier create some illusions for Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, with magnetic games at the Schoenbrun Palace in Vienna. Kempelen mentioned that he could make an illusion that could play chess. He returned to his home in Presburg, Hungary and began work on the construction of the Turk.
Kempelen created a maplewood cabinet that was 4 feet long, 2 feet deep, and over 3 feet high, mounted on wheels. Behind it was a mannequin dressed in cloak and turban, "the Turk."
In 1770 the Turk was exhibited in Vienna at the court of Austrian Empress Marie Theresa. The illusion took the form of a man in Turkish costume seated at a desk with a chessboard in front of him. Doors and panels were opened up to show no one was concealed in the desk, full of mechanical wheels and pulleys that looked like the inside of a clock. Then the mechanism was wound up and set in operation to play chess. Against all comers it would play chess with its left hand and win almost every time.
Kempelen never said that his illusion really played chess by itself. He said that his illusion was "a very ordinary piece of mechanism - a bagatelle whose effects appeared so marvelous only from the boldness of the conception, and the fortunate choice of the methods adopted for promoting the illusion."
Kempelen went on tour throughout Europe and showed the Turk to thousands of people. It was exhibited to large crowds in Paris and England.
In 1773 von Kempelen dismantled the Turk, then re-assembled it for later tours.
In 1773 Carl-Gottieb von Windisch, a friend of Kempelen, wrote an account of the Turk in provincial German newspapers.
In 1776 von Kempelen took the Turk on a tour through Russia.
In 1783 the Turk was exhibited in Vienna for Emperor Joseph II. The Turk was then exhibited in Paris where Benjamin Franklin played it and lost.
In September, 1783, letters by Windisch describing the Turk was published. It included many illustrations of the Turk at various angles (front, back, side, etc). He describes audiences where some thought the Turk was poessessed by an evil spirit that ran the machine.
In 1784 the Turk was taken to London by M. Maelzel for exhibition.
In 1784, Windisch put all his letters together on the Turk and published 'Inanimate Reason.' Another author, Henri Decremps, also wrote about the Turk.
In 1785 the Turk went on tour in Prussia where Frederick the Great played it a game and lost.
In 1785 a pamphlet was published in Paris that said the Turk was operated by a dwarf.
In 1789 Joseph Friedrich built a duplicate Turk and wrote a book exposing how the Turk worked, published in Dresden.
In 1789 Mr. J. F. Freyhere of Dresden published a book on the Turk, complete with colored plates. His conclusion was that the Turk was operated by a boy.
In 1797 Morosi made a chess automaton for Ferdinand III, Duke of Tuscany. He displayed it in Paris in 1798.
In 1803 the Turk was displayed in London.
In 1804, Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen died. In his lifetime he contributed much in the fields of mechanics, hydraulics, architecture, engineering, and natural history. He perfected the method of embossed printing for the blind and his work on mechanical production of speech later helped in the development of the telephone. He designed the hydraulic system that operated the fountains at Schonbrunn, and a canal system to link Budapest with the Adriatic Sea.
In 1805 Johann Maelzel (1772-1838) bought the Turk from von Kempelen's son.
In 1809 the Turk (Allgaier) defeated Napoleon Bonaparte at Schonbrunn, during the Wagram campaign, checkmating in 24 moves.
In 1811 the Turk was later bought by Prince Eugene de Beauharnais, Napoleon Bonaparte's stepson, for 30,000 francs, simply in order to learn the secret of its operation. Maelzel gave part of the money to Beethoven to compose music.
In 1817 Maelzel bought the Turk back from de Baeuharnais for 30,000 francs. The Prince agreed to be paid from the profits of the Turk, but died in 1824. The prince's heirs sued Maelzel for the balance. Maelzel later fled to America with the Turk to escape his debts and lawsuit.
In 1819, the Turk was exhibited in Great Britain by M. Maezel. It was exhibited for a year. The admission price to see the Turk play was 5 shillings. Jacques-Francis Mouret (1787-1837) was the main operator of the Turk, winning 99 percent of his games.
In 1820 a small booklet was published in London called, "A Selection of Fifty Games From Those Played by the Automaton Chess-Player During the Exhibition in London, in 1820." It was written by W.J. Hunneman. The Turk won 45 games, drew 2, and lost 3. In all the games, the Turk gave odds of a pawn and move.
In 1820 Robert Willis published an article in The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, in which he analyzed how the Turk worked with a hidden operator. His article was entitled, 'An Attempt to Analyze the Automaton Chess Player.'
In 1825 Maelzel sailed for New York with the Turk to escape his debts.
In 1826 the Turk was first exhibited in New York. The operator was a French woman. The Turk then went on tour in Boston where the operator was Schlumberger. It then went on to Philadelphia. The Turk became so popular in Philadelphia that the first chess club in America, the Franklin Chess Club, was formed in Philadelphia due to the Turk.
In 1827 Daniel Walker created The American Chessplayer automaton and displayed his automaton in New York and Saratoga. That same year the Baltimore Gazette revealed how the Turk operated with a hidden operator after two young boys had seen Schlumberger exit the automaton after the show. One of the Turk's opponents that year was 84 year old Charles Carroll, one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence.
In 1828 Maelzel returned to Europe with the Turk.
In 1829 Maelzel returned back to the United States with the Turk.
In 1831 Sir David Brewster (1781-1868) in his 'Letters on Natural Magic' tried to explain how the Turk worked.
In 1834 a former operator, Jacques Mouret (a nephew of Philidor), sold the secret of the Turk's operation to a French magazine, Le magasin pittoresque. The article was entitled "An attempt to analyze the automaton chess-player of M. Kempelen." It was published anonymously. It explained how an ordinary sized man could be inside the Turk. Mouret at the time was sick and short of money. He died 3 years later.
The Turk went on tour to Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, and Richmond, Virginia. Edgar Allen Poe saw the Turk in Richmond in 1835.
In 1836 Edgar Allan Poe wrote an article, Maelzel's Chess-Player , in The Southern Literary Magazine on how the Turk operated. He actually read Robert Willis's article that appeared in 1820 and used his same ideas. This article, with illustrations, can be found at http://www.chesscentral.com , a chess website of Pickard & Son. The article is part of a free e-book edition for Adobe Readers.
In 1837 Maelzel took the Turk to Cuba for an exhibition.
In 1838 Schulemberger, who was operating the Turk in Havana, caught yellow fever and died. Maelzel also caught yellow fever then decided to return to New York but died on a ship bound from Cuba to New York. He was buried at sea off of Charleston.
In 1838 Maelzel's property was sold at public auction in Philadelphia. A person by the name of Ohl bought the Turk for $400.
In 1839 Dr. John Mitchell bought the Turk from Ohl, who donated it to a Chinese Museum in Philadelphia where it remained for 15 years, never to be used.
In 1850 Edgar Allan Poe wrote a short story called Von Kempelen and His Discovery.
In 1854 the Turk was destroyed in the great fire which devastated Philadelphia. In its 85 years, at least 15 chess experts and masters occupied the Turk.
In 1857 Dr. Silas Mitchell wrote an article in The Chess Monthly on exactly how the Turk operated. The article was called 'The Last of a Veteran Chess Player.'
In 1859 George Allen used Dr. Mitchell's article and wrote how the Turk operated in the Book of the First American Chess Congress. He titled the chapter, 'The History of the Automaton Chess-Player in America.
In 1859 the great magician Jean Robert-Houdin (1805-1859) wrote his memoirs and tried to explain how the Turk worked. He never saw the Turk in action, though. He ascribed the secret of the Turk to a Polish amputee by the name of Worousky. He thinks that Kempelen came to Russia and visited a doctor friend of his. This doctor introduced de Kempelen to Worousky, who had both legs cut off after a canonball hit it in battle. Worousky was also a strong chess player who always beat the doctor and Kempelen. This gave Kempelen the idea of the Automaton chess player.
In 1865 Charles Hooper began the construction of a copy of the Turk, and called it Ajeeb.
The next great automaton did not appear until 1868. Ajeeb was made by a Bristol cabinet maker, Charles Hooper (1825-1900). It was first displayed at the Royal Polytechnical Institute in London in 1868. It stayed at the London Crystal Palace from 1868 to 1876. In 1877 it moved to the Royal Aquarium at Westminster. It then went to Berlin for 3 months where over 100,000 people saw it.
Ajeeb played checkers for a dime and chess for a quarter. Some of Ajeeb's opponents have included Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Houdini, Admiral Dewey, O. Henry, and Sarah Bernhardt.
In 1876 Charles Gumpel built Mephisto. It was operated in another room by electro-mechanical means. It actually entered a chess tournament in London (Counties Chess Association) in 1878 and won. Its operator was Isidor Gunsberg, a strong master. George MacDonnell, an Irish master, withdrew from the tournament, refusing to play Mephisto unless the operator was revealed.
In 1879 Mephisto (Gunsberg) went on tour, defeating every male player. However, when playing ladies, it would obtain a winning position, then lose the game, offering to shake hands afterwards.
In London in 1883 Mephisto (Gunsberg) beat Mikhail Tchigorin, one of the top players in the world.
Hooper took Ajeeb to New York in 1885. Ajeeb was operated by such masters as Charles Moehle (1859-1898), former US Chess Champion Albert Hodges (1861-1944), Constant Burille (1866-1914), and Harry Pillsbury (1872-1906). Burille played over 900 chess games as Ajeeb and only lost 3. He never lost a checker game as Ajeeb.
In 1886 Ajeeb was displayed in the Eden museum in New York City.
In 1889 Mephisto was taken to Paris where it was operated by Jean Tabenhaus. It was subsequently dismantled.
In 1890 Luis Torres y Quevedo built a true automaton. It automatically played a king and rook endgame against king from any position without any human intervention. He called his automaton El Ajedristica.
In 1895 Hooper sold Ajeeb to James Smith and retired to England (he died in 1900). Ajeeb was then sent to Coney Island.
In one instance, a sore loser took his gun and fired 6 shots into the torso of Ajeeb, wounding the operator.
In 1898, the operator for Ajeeb was America's strongest chess player, Harry Pillsbury. He won every single chess game and was it's operator until 1904 (he died of syphilis in 1906).
By 1915, Ajeeb was used just to play checkers. It operator was Charles Barker, US checkers champion. He never lost a single game as Ajeeb.
In 1921 Charles Gumpel, Mephisto's creator, died in England.
In 1929, Ajeeb was destroyed by fire in Coney Island.
In 1932, Frank Frain and Jesse Hanson purchased a copy of Ajeeb. Hanson was a checker master and never lost a game while playing as Ajeeb.
While in Quebec, Ajeeb was thought to have supernatural powers and was blessed as a shrine.
Ajeeb disappeared during World War II.