Chess Strategy That Beat Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Revealed

OSLO – Von Kempelen takes a tour of the machine chess for several weeks after its discovery, causing a stir around Vienna.

Soon he was asked to take the machine around Europe, meeting and playing chess against famous figures of the day.

Like Forrest Gump in the steampunk era of the 18th century, the “Mechanical Turk” played against Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Babbage (often hailed as the “father of computing”), and Benjamin Franklin, and defeated them all.

For two decades, although many suspected it was a hoax, no one knew how it was done. Many people believe that the “Mechanical Turk” is truly as mechanical as its name suggests.

The machine is a fairly good chess player, but can be beaten, including by chess champions. The machine knew the rules of chess, which was a remarkable achievement for a machine at the time, and was able to play tactically.

In fact, his game is comparable to a decent chess player hiding in a cupboard to perform under those conditions.

The machine was later sold to its owner, and continued to be played by players, before in 1857, the son of its last owner revealed its secrets in a series of articles for Chess Monthly.

The machine was operated by a chess player hiding in a cabinet. The chess pieces are magnetic, and connect to the chessboard at the bottom, allowing the operator to know what moves have been played. The operator then uses their chess skills to defeat the opponent.

Dan Flannigan in his book Legend and Lore: Jefferson Medical College explains how it works:

“To execute the Turk’s moves, the player uses a pantograph, which places the Automaton’s mechanical arm above the game board and operates the hand holding it. In the center of each hidden checkerboard square, a hole has been drilled to accept the pantograph point. Inserting this point into the desired location desired, the player can make his moves without having to make visual contact with the board.” wrote Dan Flannigan as reported by IFL Science, Sunday (10/3/2024).

And that’s how Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon lost at a board game, not to a machine, but to a chess player hiding in a cupboard operating a large metal puppet.

(wbs)