Mephisto was the name given to a
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
-playing "pseudo-automaton" built in 1876. Unlike
The Turk and
Ajeeb it had no hidden operator, instead being remotely controlled by electromechanical means.
Constructed by Charles Godfrey Gumpel (c.1835 - 1921), an
Alsatian manufacturer of artificial limbs, it took some 6 or 7 years to build and was first shown in 1878 at Gumpel's home in
Leicester Square
Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...
, London. Mephisto was mainly operated by chess master
Isidor Gunsberg
Isidore ( ; also spelled Isador, Isadore and Isidor) is an English and French masculine given name. The name is derived from the Greek name ''Isídōros'' (Ἰσίδωρος) and can literally be translated to "gift of Isis." The name has survived ...
.
Description
''Mephisto'' consisted 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.
History
It was the first automaton to win a Chess tournament when it was entered in the
Counties Chess Association in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 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 the
Paris Exposition of 1889 it was operated by
Jean Taubenhaus
Jean (Jan) Taubenhaus (14 December 1850, in Warsaw – 14 September 1919, in Paris) was a Polish–born French chess master.
Biography
Taubenhaus was a foremost Warsaw chess player in late 1870s. In 1880, he settled in Paris. In the 4th inter ...
. After 1889 it was dismantled and its subsequent whereabouts are unknown.
''
Mephisto
Mephisto or Mephistopheles is one of the chief demons of German literary tradition.
Mephisto or Mephistopheles may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' Méphisto'', a 1931 French film
* ''Mephisto'' (1981 film), a German-Hungarian film based ...
'' was later used as the name of a top-line dedicated
chess computer which won the
World Microcomputer Chess Championship in the years 1985-1990. The name is now used by the consumer electronics company
Saitek on its line of standalone
chess computers.
See also
*
The Turk hoax of 1769 to 1854, destroyed in fire
*
Ajeeb hoax of 1868 to 1929, destroyed in fire
*
El Ajedrecista of 1912, a electromechanical machine with true integrated automation, that is extant
Notes
References
*{{cite book , last = Sunnucks , first = Anne , title = The Encyclopaedia of Chess , publisher = Hale , year = 1976 , location = London , isbn = 0-7091-4697-3 , page = 314
Chess automatons
1876 in chess
Hoaxes in science
19th-century hoaxes
19th-century robots