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a computer chess program developed in the late 70s and early 80s by four students from [[Vienna University of Technology]], [[Hermann Kaindl]], [[Helmut Horacek]], [[Marcus Wagner]] and [[Roland Schreier]], supported by project supervisor [[Werner DePauli-Schimanovich-Göttig]]. Merlin competed at various [[ACM North American Computer Chess Championship|ACM North American Computer Chess Championships]] and two [[World Computer Chess Championship|World Computer Chess Championships]] in the 80s, the [[WCCC 1983]] in New York and [[WCCC 1989]] in Edmonton, at the WCCC running on [[IBM 370]] compliant [[Siemens-System 7.800|Siemens 7.890 F]] (1983) and [[IBM 370|IBM 3090]] (1989) <ref>[https://www.game-ai-forum.org/icga-tournaments/program.php?id=353 Merlin's ICGA Tournaments]</ref>. It won the [[International Computer Chess Tournament 1984]] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarn Baarn], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands The Netherlands] <ref>[[Jaap van Oosterwijk Bruyn]] ('''1984'''). ''International Computer-Chess Tournament in the Netherlands''. [[ICGA Journal#7_2|ICCA Journal, Vol. 7, No. 2]]</ref>.

As mentioned in [[Werner DePauli-Schimanovich-Göttig|Werner DePauli-Schimanovich's]] 2006 book ''Europolis 6'' <ref>[[Werner DePauli-Schimanovich-Göttig|Werner DePauli-Schimanovich]] ('''2006'''). ''[http://www.trauner.at/buchdetail.aspx?artnr=20199541 Europolis 6]''. Informatik für Spiele und Verkehr. Extension der Mengenlehre, Herausgeber: Franz Pichler, [http://www.trauner.at/Default.aspx Universitätsverlag Rudolf Trauner], ISBN 978-3-85487-946-6, (SG7) Merlin (ein ComputerChess-Programm) s. 171 (German), [http://books.google.com/books?id=Gf4WibmHVbcC&pg=PA175&lpg=PA175&source=bl&ots=YPtaHAp3Z4&sig=DNRPh11heo8Q1zS3UOBe0qoCF-8&hl=en&ei=0GmnTMX1GMfJswaL-NivDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Google Books]</ref> and the reprinted paper ''Das Schachprogramm Merlin ...'' by [[Helmut Horacek]] and [[Marcus Wagner]] <ref>[[Helmut Horacek]], [[Marcus Wagner]] ('''1981'''). ''Das Schachprogramm Merlin, Verbesserung von Laufzeit-Effizient, Eröffnungsbibliothek und Bewertungsfunktion.'' 4. Tagung "Berichte aus Informatik-Instituten" (German)</ref>, Merlin was initially based on the didactic program [[Chess 0.5]] by [[Larry Atkin]] and [[Peter W. Frey]], as published 1978 in [[Byte Magazine]], also written in [[Pascal]] <ref>[http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=doc-434fea055cbb3 The 6th World Computer Chess Championship, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada], [http://archive.computerhistory.org/projects/chess/related_materials/text/3-1%20and%203-2%20and%203-3%20and%204-3.1989_WCCC/1989%20WCCC.062302028.sm.pdf pdf] from [[The Computer History Museum]]</ref> except some time critical, often called routines, which were re-written in [[Assembly|CDC assembly]] by Wagner. Merlin was basically a [[Brute-Force|brute-force]] [[Depth-First|depth-first]] searcher with knowledge-based [[Selectivity|selectivity]] <ref>[[Hermann Kaindl]], [[Helmut Horacek]], [[Marcus Wagner]] ('''1986'''). ''Selective Search versus Brute Force.'' [[ICGA Journal#9_3|ICCA Journal, Vol. 9, No. 3]]</ref> , using [[Extensions|extensions]] as well as [[Null Move|null move]] to [[Null Move Pruning#ThreatDetection|determine threats]] <ref>[[Hermann Kaindl]] ('''1983'''). ''Searching to Variable Depth in Computer Chess.'' Proceedings of [http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/%7Eley/db/conf/ijcai/ijcai83.html IJCAI 83], pp. 760-762. Karlsruhe. [http://ijcai.org/Past%20Proceedings/IJCAI-83-VOL-2/PDF/039.pdf pdf]</ref> .

* [[Helmut Horacek]], [[Marcus Wagner]] ('''1981'''). ''Das Schachprogramm Merlin, Verbesserung von Laufzeit-Effizient, Eröffnungsbibliothek und Bewertungsfunktion.'' 4.Tagung Berichte aus Informatik-Instituten (German) <ref>reprinted in [[Werner DePauli-Schimanovich-Göttig|Werner DePauli-Schimanovich]] ('''2006'''). ''[http://www.trauner.at/buchdetail.aspx?artnr=20199541 Europolis 6]''. Informatik für Spiele und Verkehr. Extension der Mengenlehre, Herausgeber: Franz Pichler, [http://www.trauner.at/Default.aspx Universitätsverlag Rudolf Trauner], ISBN 978-3-85487-946-6, (SG7) Merlin (ein ComputerChess-Programm) s. 171 (German)</ref>