ETAION SHRDLU?

[bob]

Cool stuff. that was the "first contact" between Harry and Myself. He became a permanent part of the team shortly after that in fact, and we worked together through 1994.

[bob]

BTW I suspect the guys on either side of myself/harry are just locals that are displaying the boards using little transparent plastic pieces and an overhead projector.

[Gerd Isenberg]

I barely remember the program. In that photo, the only ones I recognize are myself, and Harry Nelson standing over my shoulder. blue shirt with stripes. I am not sure who that is across the table from me. Possibly someone from the Mephisto team although I can't quite make out the opponent's name. It was certainly 1981 or later as that was when Harry became involved as we started to use a Cray.

Looks like Mephisto was operated by Ossi Weiner. New York 1983.

According to the csvn site, 7th ACM 1976 Houston, Blitz won 3rd round against Etaoin Shrdlu. Cant remember? From Belgium?

[MartinBryant]

According to David Levy's book "1975 US Computer Chess Championship" the program ETAOIN SHRDLU was written by GARTH Cortois Jr. running on a Nova 1200 from the University of Colorado.
(I've double checked all the spellings there! Note Cortois NOT Courtois.)
A 10K program written in assembler having no book and searching 9000 positions/move. It finished 3rd on tie-break.
It also competed in the 1976 tourney but only came 10th.

In the 2nd picture, sat on the right with the dark hair and dark suit, isn't that Ossi Weiner?

[Gerd Isenberg]

According to David Levy's book "1975 US Computer Chess Championship" the program ETAOIN SHRDLU was written by GARTH Cortois Jr. running on a Nova 1200 from the University of Colorado.
(I've double checked all the spellings there! Note Cortois NOT Courtois.)
A 10K program written in assembler having no book and searching 9000 positions/move. It finished 3rd on tie-break.
It also competed in the 1976 tourney but only came 10th.

In the 2nd picture, sat on the right with the dark hair and dark suit, isn't that Ossi Weiner?

Thanks. ETAOIN SHRDLU by GARTH Cortois Jr., fine.

In the 2nd picture, yes, that must be Ossi Weiner. Seems it was not WCCC 83 NY (where both programs participated, but did't match each other), but ACM 1988 round 2 Mephisto - Cray Blitz 1/2-1/2. So finally Monty's date was correct

[Robert Weck]

In the 2nd picture, sat on the right with the dark hair and dark suit, isn't that Ossi Weiner?

The board looks like a Mephisto München and the sign seems to read "Mephisto"; so i guess you and Gerd could be right...


Robert

[MartinBryant]

Ah.......
My bad on the spelling of the surname!
In Levy's 1976 book he does spell it COURTOIS and if you Google Garth Courtois you get many chess related hits including one guy saying he still has a punch tape of the program!

[Gerd Isenberg]

Ah.......
My bad on the spelling of the surname!
In Levy's 1976 book he does spell it COURTOIS and if you Google Garth Courtois you get many chess related hits including one guy saying he still has a punch tape of the program!

Obituary:
Garth E. Courtois, Jr., '70, of Boulder, CO, formerly of Royal Oak, June 1929, age 48
https://www.msu.edu/unit/msuaa/magazine/w97/
https://www.msu.edu/unit/msuaa/magazine ... itsw97.htm

[bob]

I barely remember the program. In that photo, the only ones I recognize are myself, and Harry Nelson standing over my shoulder. blue shirt with stripes. I am not sure who that is across the table from me. Possibly someone from the Mephisto team although I can't quite make out the opponent's name. It was certainly 1981 or later as that was when Harry became involved as we started to use a Cray.

Looks like Mephisto was operated by Ossi Weiner. New York 1983.

According to the csvn site, 7th ACM 1976 Houston, Blitz won 3rd round against Etaoin Shrdlu. Cant remember? From Belgium?

I remember the game vaguely, and the author vaguely. He had a full beard, was rather short, but beyond that, we are talking 32 years ago for me, which is just not very clear memory-wise.