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Mephistowas the name given to achess-playing "pseudo-automaton" built in 1876. UnlikeThe TurkandAjeebit had no hidden operator, instead being remotely controlled by electromechanical means.[1]
Constructed by Charles Godfrey Gumpel (c.1835 - 1921), anAlsatianmanufacturer of artificial limbs, it took some 6 or 7 years to build and was first shown in 1878 at Gumpel's home inLeicester Square,London. Mephisto was mainly operated by chess masterIsidor Gunsberg.[1]
Description
editMephistoconsisted of a life-size figure of an elegant devil, with one foot rendered as a cloven hoof, dressed in red velvet and seated in an armchair in front of an unenclosed, open-sided table. This table set-up was provided to reassure the player that there were no compartments beneath the board where a man could be hidden (as in "The Turk" ). In addition, the public was invited to inspect the contraption before each exhibition, with the intention of demonstrating that there was no player inside. The chessboard was noted as having had indentations on each square that held the bases of the chessmen to prevent them from moving unintentionally. The figure of Mephisto itself was bolted to the table at the chest to enable its arm full reach across the board.[2]
History
editIt was the first automaton to win a Chess tournament when it was entered in theCounties Chess AssociationinLondonin 1878 and at one time had its own chess club. In 1879 Mephisto, with Gunsberg, went on tour, defeating every male player. When playing ladies, however, Mephisto would first obtain a winning position before losing the game then courteously offer to shake their hand afterwards.
When Mephisto was shown at theParis Exposition of 1889it was operated byJean Taubenhaus.After 1889 it was dismantled and its subsequent whereabouts are unknown.
Mephistowas later used as the name of a top-line dedicatedchess computerwhich won theWorld Microcomputer Chess Championshipin the years 1985-1990. The name is now used by the consumer electronics companySaitekon its line of standalonechess computers.
See also
edit- The Turkhoax of 1769 to 1854, destroyed in fire
- Ajeebhoax of 1868 to 1929, destroyed in fire
- El Ajedrecistaof 1912, a electromechanical machine with true integrated automation, that is extant
Notes
edit- ^abTim Harding(12 April 2012). "Isidor Arthur Gunsberg".Eminent Victorian Chess Players: Ten Biographies.London: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 283–286.ISBN978-0-7864-6568-2.
- ^Gumpel, Charles Godfrey (1889)."Mephisto", the marvellous automaton, exhibited at the International Theatre, Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1889.T. Pettitt & Co. p. 46.
References
edit- Sunnucks, Anne (1976).The Encyclopaedia of Chess.London: Hale. p. 314.ISBN0-7091-4697-3.