Napoleon vs. The Mechanical Turk,Constructed in 1770, the Mechanical Turk was a chess playing machin

Napoleon vs. The Mechanical Turk,Constructed in 1770, the Mechanical Turk was a chess playing machine or automaton designed by Hungarian inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen in order to impress Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.  Apparently, the Turk could play one mean game of chess, beating almost all humans that dared challenge it.  Only a few players were able to defeat the machine, most of whom were accomplished chess masters.Over several decades the Turk toured Europe and North America, defeating many challengers including monarchs, politicians, mathematicians, scientists, even the great sage Ben Franklin.  In 1809 the Turk conducted one of its most important matches, a game with one of the greatest strategic minds in history; a chess enthusiast, general, and French Emperor named Napoleon Bonaparte.  Bonaparte was curious of the machine, and challenged it to a match held in Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria.  Obviously testing the machine, Napoleon made an illegal move, at which point the Turk picked up his piece and moved it back into the correct position.  Napoleon repeated the move, the Turk removed the piece from the board entirely and proceeded to take its turn.   When Napoleon made the move a third time, the Turk swept the pieces off the board as if in anger.  Amused, Napoleon then played a real game with the Turk, and was beaten after 19 moves.  According to various accounts, Napoleon was either impressed by the machine and retired in amusement, or had a massive temper tantrum at being beaten.  After beating Napoleon Bonaparte the Turk continued to be toured throughout European and America.  In 1820’s, it was finally revealed what made the Turk so formidable at chess.  The Turk was not an automaton, but rather a massive decades long fraud.  Inside the Turk was a secret hidden compartment in which a human player hid, controlling the Turk with a series of levers, gears, and other controls.  The chess masters who secretly operated it included Johann Allgaier, Boncourt, Aaron Alexandre, William Lewis, Jacques Mouret, and William Schlumberger. In 1840 the Turk was bought by Edgar Allen Poe’s personal physician, a Philadelphia man named John Kearsely Mitchell.  From there it was donated to the Chinese Museum in Philadelphia, owned by Charles Wilson Peale.  In 1856 it was destroyed in a fire. -- source link

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