The first technical paper on computer chess

[Steelman]

I was browsing Abe books and found the following for sale:
(where it all started)

Programming a Computer for Playing Chess. (In); The Philosophical Magazine, vol. 41 number 314, March (1950) Entire issue, pp. 209-312.
SHANNON, Claude E.
Bookseller: Edwin V. Glaser Rare Books, ABAA
(Napa, CA, U.S.A.)
Bookseller Rating: 5-star rating
Price: US$ 1575.00
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Book Description: Taylor & Francis (1950), London, 1950. Book Condition: A fine copy. A fine copy. The first technical paper on computer chess. --Hook & Norman: Origins of Cyberspace 882. Three-quarter calf over marbled boards, orig. stiff printed wrapps. bound in. Binding is First edition. pp. 256-275, Several diagrams in text. 8vo. Bookseller Inventory # 1536

[Dann Corbit]

I was browsing Abe books and found the following for sale:
(where it all started)

Programming a Computer for Playing Chess. (In); The Philosophical Magazine, vol. 41 number 314, March (1950) Entire issue, pp. 209-312.
SHANNON, Claude E.
Bookseller: Edwin V. Glaser Rare Books, ABAA
(Napa, CA, U.S.A.)
Bookseller Rating: 5-star rating
Price: US$ 1575.00
[Convert Currency]
Quantity: 1 Shipping within U.S.A.:
US$ 7.50
[Rates & Speeds] Add Book to Shopping Basket

Book Description: Taylor & Francis (1950), London, 1950. Book Condition: A fine copy. A fine copy. The first technical paper on computer chess. --Hook & Norman: Origins of Cyberspace 882. Three-quarter calf over marbled boards, orig. stiff printed wrapps. bound in. Binding is First edition. pp. 256-275, Several diagrams in text. 8vo. Bookseller Inventory # 1536

Turing was before Shannon:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/ ... omphis.htm

In 1945 Alan Turing (1912-1954) used chess-playing as an example of what a computer could do. Turing himself was a weak chess player.

In 1946 Alan Turing made his first reference to machine intelligence in connection with chess-playing.

In 1947, Alan Turing specified the first chess program for chess.

In 1948 the UNIVAC computer was advertised as the strongest computer in the world. So strong, that it could play chess and gin rummy so perfectly that no human opponent could beat it.

In 1948 Turing challenged Donald Michie to see who could first write a simple chess-playing algorithm.

In March, 1949 Claude Shannon (1916-2001) described how to program a computer and a Ferranti digital machine was programmed to solve mates in two moves. He proposed basic strategies for restricting the number of possibilities to be considered in a game of chess. Shannon was an avid chess player. He first proposed his idea of programming a computer for chess at the National Institute for Radio Engineers (IRE) Convention in New York.

In 1950, Alan Turing wrote the first computer chess program. The same year he proposed the Turing Test that in time, a computer could be programmed (such as playing chess) to acquire abilities rivalling human intelligence. If a human did not see the other human or computer during an imitation game such as chess, he/she would not know the difference between the human and the computer.

In 1950 Shannon devised a chess playing program that appeared in the paper "Programming a computer for playing chess" published in Philosophical Magazine, Series 7, Vol. 41 (No. 314, March 1950). This was the first article on computer chess.

In November 1951, Dr. Dietrich Prinz wrote the original chess playing program for the Manchester Ferranti computer. The program could solve simple mates in two moves.

In 1952 Alick Glennie, who wrote the first computer compiler, defeated Alan Turing's chess program, TurboChamp. He was the first person to beat a computer program at chess. Turing never finished his chess-playing program.

In 1953 Turing included an example of his chess program in action in chapter 25 (Digital Computers Applied to Games) of the book Faster than Thought by B. Bowden.

[bob]

I was browsing Abe books and found the following for sale:
(where it all started)

Programming a Computer for Playing Chess. (In); The Philosophical Magazine, vol. 41 number 314, March (1950) Entire issue, pp. 209-312.
SHANNON, Claude E.
Bookseller: Edwin V. Glaser Rare Books, ABAA
(Napa, CA, U.S.A.)
Bookseller Rating: 5-star rating
Price: US$ 1575.00
[Convert Currency]
Quantity: 1 Shipping within U.S.A.:
US$ 7.50
[Rates & Speeds] Add Book to Shopping Basket

Book Description: Taylor & Francis (1950), London, 1950. Book Condition: A fine copy. A fine copy. The first technical paper on computer chess. --Hook & Norman: Origins of Cyberspace 882. Three-quarter calf over marbled boards, orig. stiff printed wrapps. bound in. Binding is First edition. pp. 256-275, Several diagrams in text. 8vo. Bookseller Inventory # 1536

Claude Shannon sent me an autographed copy of that paper many years ago, along with an autographed picture of a KR vs K "computer" he built in the 1950's. It would mate with KR vs K (although not optimally in every case).

Brings back the "old days" to see some of these kinds of references.

[bob]

I was browsing Abe books and found the following for sale:
(where it all started)

Programming a Computer for Playing Chess. (In); The Philosophical Magazine, vol. 41 number 314, March (1950) Entire issue, pp. 209-312.
SHANNON, Claude E.
Bookseller: Edwin V. Glaser Rare Books, ABAA
(Napa, CA, U.S.A.)
Bookseller Rating: 5-star rating
Price: US$ 1575.00
[Convert Currency]
Quantity: 1 Shipping within U.S.A.:
US$ 7.50
[Rates & Speeds] Add Book to Shopping Basket

I don't think Turing's 1950 program was a real program. It was an algorithm that was tested with hand simulation...
Book Description: Taylor & Francis (1950), London, 1950. Book Condition: A fine copy. A fine copy. The first technical paper on computer chess. --Hook & Norman: Origins of Cyberspace 882. Three-quarter calf over marbled boards, orig. stiff printed wrapps. bound in. Binding is First edition. pp. 256-275, Several diagrams in text. 8vo. Bookseller Inventory # 1536

Turing was before Shannon:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/ ... omphis.htm

In 1945 Alan Turing (1912-1954) used chess-playing as an example of what a computer could do. Turing himself was a weak chess player.

In 1946 Alan Turing made his first reference to machine intelligence in connection with chess-playing.

In 1947, Alan Turing specified the first chess program for chess.

In 1948 the UNIVAC computer was advertised as the strongest computer in the world. So strong, that it could play chess and gin rummy so perfectly that no human opponent could beat it.

In 1948 Turing challenged Donald Michie to see who could first write a simple chess-playing algorithm.

In March, 1949 Claude Shannon (1916-2001) described how to program a computer and a Ferranti digital machine was programmed to solve mates in two moves. He proposed basic strategies for restricting the number of possibilities to be considered in a game of chess. Shannon was an avid chess player. He first proposed his idea of programming a computer for chess at the National Institute for Radio Engineers (IRE) Convention in New York.

In 1950, Alan Turing wrote the first computer chess program. The same year he proposed the Turing Test that in time, a computer could be programmed (such as playing chess) to acquire abilities rivalling human intelligence. If a human did not see the other human or computer during an imitation game such as chess, he/she would not know the difference between the human and the computer.

In 1950 Shannon devised a chess playing program that appeared in the paper "Programming a computer for playing chess" published in Philosophical Magazine, Series 7, Vol. 41 (No. 314, March 1950). This was the first article on computer chess.

In November 1951, Dr. Dietrich Prinz wrote the original chess playing program for the Manchester Ferranti computer. The program could solve simple mates in two moves.

In 1952 Alick Glennie, who wrote the first computer compiler, defeated Alan Turing's chess program, TurboChamp. He was the first person to beat a computer program at chess. Turing never finished his chess-playing program.

In 1953 Turing included an example of his chess program in action in chapter 25 (Digital Computers Applied to Games) of the book Faster than Thought by B. Bowden.