From the Turk to Chess Genie

In 1769 Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen of Bratislava built a chess-playing automaton (pictured right) which was a wonder of wheels and gears.   It was called The Turk.   Von Kempelen never actually claimed that the thing could play chess -- he described it as an "illusion"; but the stories that surrounded it and the theories about how it won its games were legion.   The mere fact that it was operated in turn by some of the strongest chess players of the day may have been sheer coincidence.

There's nothing illusory about Chess Genie.   Programmed especially for the Rooty Hill Chess Club by Robert Ambalong of Sydney, Australia, Chess Genie lives in a small glass bottle inside your computer.   He will come out to help you whenever you want to view a game on this site.   You don't even have to pull the stopper out of the bottle -- just click on the game you want to see and, poof! the Genie will appear. Here's a sample game Gary Lane - Nigel Short from the 36th Olympiad, or simple click on this magic lamp.

You can follow the the game move-by-move, forward and back, by clicking on the navigation arrows below the board, or click on the move-text to jump to that position. If you want to test your own analysis, you can play your own moves from any point during the game. Simply drag and drop the chess piece on the board. This feature is unique to Chessgenie. To return to the game click on the Reset button (that's the key with the red "R" in the bottom right hand corner of the chess board).

   —David Evans

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