Mephisto (automaton)
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Mephisto was the name given to a chess-playing 'pseudo-automaton' built in 1876.
Constructed by Charles Gumpel, a manufacturer of artificial limbs, Mephisto was controlled from another room by electro-mechanical means and was originally operated by the chess master Isidor Gunsberg.
It was the first automaton to win a Chess tournament when it was entered in the Counties Chess Association in London in 1878. It was shown regularly for ten years and at one time had its own 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; courteously offering to shake their hand afterwards.
When Mephisto went to the Paris Exposition in 1889 it was operated by Jean Taubenhaus. After 1889 it was dismantled and its subsequent whereabouts are unknown.
Mephisto 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.
[edit] See also
- The Turk hoax of 1769 to 1854, destroyed in fire
- Ajeeb hoax of 1868 to 1929, destroyed in fire
- El Ajedrecista actual electromechanical machine of 1912 that is extant
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