Mechanical Turk

In 1769 the Hungarian engineer Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen built the Mechanical Turk (or Turk), what von Kempelen claimed was a chess playing machine for the amusement of the Queen Maria Theresa of Austria.

It was said to be a purely mechanical device, shaped like man in the traditional costume of Turkey seated at a table. Its outstanding playing strength was supplied by a chess master cleverly hidden inside the device; the machine was a fake.

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