Turochamp
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''Turochamp'' is a
chess program In computer chess, a chess engine is a computer program that analyzes chess or chess variant positions, and generates a move or list of moves that it regards as strongest. A chess engine is usually a back end with a command-line interface wit ...
developed by
Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 â€“ 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
and David Champernowne in 1948. It was created as part of research by the pair into computer science and machine learning. ''Turochamp'' is capable of playing an entire chess game against a human player at a low level of play by calculating all potential moves and all potential player moves in response, as well as some further moves it deems considerable. It then assigns point values to each game state, and selects the move resulting in the highest point value. ''Turochamp'' is the earliest known
computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
to enter development, but was never completed by Turing and Champernowne, as its algorithm was too complex to be run by the early computers of the time such as the
Automatic Computing Engine The Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) was a British early Electronic storage, electronic Serial computer, serial stored-program computer designed by Alan Turing. It was based on the earlier Pilot ACE. It led to the MOSAIC computer, the Bendi ...
. Turing attempted to convert the program into executable code for the 1951
Ferranti Mark 1 The Ferranti Mark 1, also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer in its sales literature, and thus sometimes called the Manchester Ferranti, was produced by British electrical engineering firm Ferranti Ltd. It was the world's first commer ...
computer in Manchester, but was unable to do so. Turing played a match against computer scientist
Alick Glennie Alick Edwards Glennie (1925–2003) was a British computer scientist, most famous for having developed Autocode, which many people regard as the first ever computer compiler.Knuth, Donald E.; Pardo, Luis Trabb, "Early development of programming ...
using the program in the summer of 1952, executing it manually step by step, but by his death in 1954 had still been unable to run the program on an actual computer. Champernowne did not continue the project, and the original program design was not preserved. Despite never being run on a computer, the program is a candidate for the first chess program; several other chess programs were designed or proposed around the same time, including another one which Turing unsuccessfully tried to run on the Ferranti Mark 1. The first successful program in 1951, also developed for the Mark 1, was directly inspired by ''Turochamp'', and was capable only of solving " mate-in-two" problems. A recreation of ''Turochamp'' was constructed in 2012 for the
Alan Turing Centenary Conference The Alan Turing Centenary Conference was an academic conference celebrating the life and research of Alan Turing by bringing together distinguished scientists to understand and analyse the history and development of Computer Science and Artifici ...
. This version was used in a match with chess grandmaster
Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...
, who gave a keynote at the conference.


Gameplay

''Turochamp'' simulates a game of chess against the player by accepting the player's moves as input and outputting its move in response. The program's algorithm uses a
heuristic A heuristic (; ), or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, ...
to determine the best move to make, calculating all potential moves that it can make, then all of the potential player responses that could be made in turn, as well as further "considerable" moves, such as captures of undefended pieces, recaptures, and the capture of a piece of higher value by one of lower value. The program then assigns a point value to each resulting state, then makes the move with the highest resulting points, employing a minimax algorithm to do so. Points are determined based on several criteria, such as the mobility of each piece, the safety of each piece, the threat of checkmate, the value of the player's piece if taken, and several other factors. Different moves are given different point values; for example taking the queen is given 10 points but a pawn only one point, and placing the king in check is given a point or half of a point based on the layout of the board. According to Champernowne, the algorithm is primarily designed around the decision to take a piece or not; according to Turing, the resulting gameplay produces a low level game of chess, which he considered commensurate with his self-described average skill level at the game.


History

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 â€“ 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
was an English
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...
,
computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
,
logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
ian,
cryptanalyst Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic sec ...
,
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of
theoretical computer science Theoretical computer science (TCS) is a subset of general computer science and mathematics that focuses on mathematical aspects of computer science such as the theory of computation, lambda calculus, and type theory. It is difficult to circumsc ...
, providing a formalisation of the concepts of
algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specificat ...
and
computation Computation is any type of arithmetic or non-arithmetic calculation that follows a well-defined model (e.g., an algorithm). Mechanical or electronic devices (or, historically, people) that perform computations are known as ''computers''. An es ...
with the
Turing machine A Turing machine is a mathematical model of computation describing an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite the model's simplicity, it is capable of implementing any computer algori ...
, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose
computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
. Beginning in 1941, while working in wartime cryptanalysis at
Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
, Turing began to discuss with his colleagues the possibility of a machine being able to play chess or perform other "intelligent" tasks, as well as the idea of a computer solving a problem by searching through all possible solutions using a
heuristic A heuristic (; ), or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate, ...
or algorithm. Some of Turing's cryptanalysis work, such as on the
Bombe The bombe () was an electro-mechanical device used by British cryptologists to help decipher German Enigma-machine-encrypted secret messages during World War II. The US Navy and US Army later produced their own machines to the same functiona ...
, was done through this model of a computing machine searching through possibilities for a solution. He continued to discuss the idea with his colleagues throughout the war, such as with economic statistician D. G. Champernowne in 1944, and by 1945 he was convinced that a machine capable of performing general computations would be theoretically capable of replicating anything a human brain could do, including playing chess. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Turing worked at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), where he designed the
Automatic Computing Engine The Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) was a British early Electronic storage, electronic Serial computer, serial stored-program computer designed by Alan Turing. It was based on the earlier Pilot ACE. It led to the MOSAIC computer, the Bendi ...
(ACE), among the first designs for a stored-program computer. In 1946, Turing wrote a report for the NPL entitled "Proposed Electronic Calculator" that described several projects that he planned to use the ACE for; one of these was a program to play chess. He gave a reading at the
London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh Mathematical S ...
the following year in which he presented the idea that a machine programmed to play chess could learn on its own and acquire its own experience. Subsequently, in 1948, he wrote a new report for the NPL, entitled "Intelligent Machinery", which suggested a form of imitation chess. In the late summer of 1948 Turing and Champernowne, then his colleague at
King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
, devised a system of theoretical rules to determine the next strokes of a chess game. They designed a program that would enact an algorithm that would follow these rules, though the program was too complex to able to be run on the ACE or any other computer of the time. The program was named ''Turochamp'', a combination of their surnames. It is sometimes misreported as "Turbochamp". According to Champernowne, his wife played a simulated game against the program, nicknamed the "paper machine", and lost. Turing attempted to convert the program into executable code for the 1951
Ferranti Mark 1 The Ferranti Mark 1, also known as the Manchester Electronic Computer in its sales literature, and thus sometimes called the Manchester Ferranti, was produced by British electrical engineering firm Ferranti Ltd. It was the world's first commer ...
computer in Manchester, but was unable to do so due to the complexity of the code. According to
Jack Copeland Brian John Copeland (born 1950) is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, and author of books on the computing pioneer Alan Turing. Education Copeland was educated at the University of Oxford, obta ...
, author of several books on Turing, he was not concerned that the program could not be run, as he was convinced that the speed and sophistication of computers would soon rise to make it possible. In the summer of 1952, Turing played a match against computer scientist
Alick Glennie Alick Edwards Glennie (1925–2003) was a British computer scientist, most famous for having developed Autocode, which many people regard as the first ever computer compiler.Knuth, Donald E.; Pardo, Luis Trabb, "Early development of programming ...
using the program, executing it manually step by step. The match, which was recorded, had the ''Turochamp'' program losing to Glennie in 29 moves, with each of the program's moves taking up to 30 minutes to evaluate. Although the match demonstrated that the program could viably play against a human in a full game, it was not run on an actual computer before Turing's death in 1954.


Legacy

''Turochamp'' is a candidate for the first chess program, though the original program was never run on a computer. Several other chess programs were designed and attempted around the same time, such as in
Claude Shannon Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American people, American mathematician, electrical engineering, electrical engineer, and cryptography, cryptographer known as a "father of information theory". As a 21-year-o ...
's 1950 article ''Programming a Computer for Playing Chess'',
Konrad Zuse Konrad Ernst Otto Zuse (; 22 June 1910 – 18 December 1995) was a German civil engineer, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programmable computer; the functional program-c ...
's chess routines developed from 1941 to 1945 for his proposed programming language
Plankalkül Plankalkül () is a programming language designed for engineering purposes by Konrad Zuse between 1942 and 1945. It was the first high-level programming language to be designed for a computer. ''Kalkül'' is the German term for a formal systemâ ...
, and
Donald Michie Donald Michie (; 11 November 1923 – 7 July 2007) was a British researcher in artificial intelligence. During World War II, Michie worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, contributing to the effort to solve " Tunny ...
and
Shaun Wylie Shaun Wylie (17 January 1913 – 2 October 2009 In November 1951
Dietrich Prinz Dietrich Gunther Prinz (March 29, 1903 – December 1989) was a computer science pioneer, notable for his work on early British computers at Ferranti, and in particular for developing the first limited chess program in 1951. Biography Prinz was bo ...
, who worked at
Ferranti Ferranti or Ferranti International plc was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The firm was known ...
and was inspired by Turing's work on ''Turochamp'', developed the first runnable computer-based chess program for the Ferranti Mark I, which could solve " mate-in-two" problems. The original code and algorithm written by Turing and Champernowne has not been preserved. In 1980, Champernowne described the way ''Turochamp'' worked, but he was not able to recall all of the details of the game's rules. A version of ''Turochamp'' was developed in 2012 from descriptions of the game's algorithm as a symbolic recreation. After the initial recreation was unable to recreate Turing's simulated match against Glennie, several computer chess experts and contemporaries of Turing were consulted in interpreting Turing and Champernowne's descriptions of the program, including
Ken Thompson Kenneth Lane Thompson (born February 4, 1943) is an American pioneer of computer science. Thompson worked at Bell Labs for most of his career where he designed and implemented the original Unix operating system. He also invented the B programmi ...
, creator of the 1983 Belle chess machine and the
Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and ot ...
operating system. They were unable to find the explanation for the deviation until they consulted with Donald Michie, who suggested that Turing had not been concerned with meticulously working out exactly which move ''Turochamp'' would recommend. With this in mind they were able to prove that from the very first move of the game Turing had incorrectly deviated from moves that appeared suboptimal without working out their point value. The resulting recreation was presented at the
Alan Turing Centenary Conference The Alan Turing Centenary Conference was an academic conference celebrating the life and research of Alan Turing by bringing together distinguished scientists to understand and analyse the history and development of Computer Science and Artifici ...
on 22–25 June 2012, in a match with chess grandmaster and former
world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...
. Kasparov won the match in 16 moves, and complimented the program for its place in history and the "exceptional achievement" of developing a working computer chess program without being able to ever run it on a computer.


See also

*
List of chess software Chess software comes in different forms. A chess playing program provides a graphical chessboard on which one can play a chess game against a computer. Such programs are available for personal computers, video game consoles, smartphones/ tablet ...
*
List of things named after Alan Turing Alan Turing (1912–1954), a pioneer computer scientist, mathematician, and philosopher, is the eponym of all of the things (and topics) listed below. *Alan Turing Building, Manchester, England *Turing School/house Varndean School Brighton,Englan ...


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * *


External links


Video
of chess match between Garry Kasparov and the ''Turochamp'' recreation
''Alan Turing vs Alick Glennie (1952) "Turing Test"''
at
Chessgames.com Chessgames.com is an Internet chess community with over 224,000 members. The site maintains a large database of chess games, where each game has its own discussion page for comments and analysis. Limited primarily to games where at least one pla ...

''Turochamp (Computer) vs Garry Kasparov (2012)''
at
Chessgames.com Chessgames.com is an Internet chess community with over 224,000 members. The site maintains a large database of chess games, where each game has its own discussion page for comments and analysis. Limited primarily to games where at least one pla ...
* — Open Source Python implementation of ''Turochamp''
''Turochamp'' in a web browser
based on this Nim version: {{Authority control 1948 in computing 1948 in chess Alan Turing Chess in England Computer chess Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester Video games developed in the United Kingdom