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The Bernstein Chess Program

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'''The Bernstein Chess Program''',<br/>
was the first complete chess program, developed in around [[Timeline#1957|1957]] at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Bureau_Corporation Service Bureau Corporation], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Avenue Madison] & [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59th_Street_%28Manhattan%29 59th Street], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan Manhattan], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City New York City] <ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1958/11/29/runner-up-4 Runner-Up - The New Yorker - November 29, 1958]</ref>, by chess player and programmer at [[IBM]], [[Alex Bernstein]] with his colleagues [[Michael de V. Roberts]], [[Timothy Arbuckle]] and [[Martin Belsky]], supported by chess advisor [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Bisguier Arthur Bisguier] <ref>[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Bisguier Arthur Bisguier from Wikipedia.de] (German)</ref>, who became IBM employee at that time and in 1957 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Grandmaster international chess grandmaster], and supervised by [[Nathaniel Rochester]] <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Rochester_%28computer_scientist%29 Nathaniel Rochester (computer scientist) from Wikipedia]</ref>. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_McCorduck Pamela McCorduck], who was married to [[Mathematician#JFTraub|Joseph F. Traub]], interviewed Alex Bernstein as published with several details given on the development of the program in her seminal book ''[[Artificial Intelligence#MachinesWhoThink|Machines Who Think]]'' <ref>[http://www.talkchess.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=70939&start=17 Re: The mystery of Alex Bernstein] by [[Sergei Markoff|Sergei S. Markoff]], [[CCC]], June 09, 2019</ref>. =Quotes===McCorduck==Quotes by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_McCorduck Pamela McCorduck] from ''[[Artificial Intelligence#MachinesWhoThink|Machines Who Think]]'' <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_McCorduck Pamela McCorduck] ('''2004'''). ''[[Artificial Intelligence#MachinesWhoThink|Machines Who Think: A Personal Inquiry into the History and Prospects of Artificial Intelligence]]''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_K_Peters A. K. Peters] (25th anniversary edition), pp. 182-185</ref> Bernstein drew upon not only his own experience with chess, but began to study [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Chess_Openings Modern Chess Openings], which came out then every two years, and spent six months going through some five hundred chess openings. He assigned scores to various positions, scores that depended not only on the pieces retained, but also on [[Square Control|area control]] of the board and [[Mobility|mobility]]. He also developed a fourth measure, what he called a “[[King Pattern|greens area]]” around the king, meaning that the more squares outward from the king controlled by his own side the better. But after six months of this he gave it up. He couldn’t make any sense out of it.  At this time, Bernstein was unaware of [[Claude Shannon|Shannon’s seminal papers]], and did not know that chess had caught the interests of a group at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos]], including [[James Kister|J. Kister]], [[Paul Stein|P. Stein]], [[Stanislaw Ulam|S. Ulam]], [[William Walden|W. Walden]], and [[Mark Wells|M. Wells]], who were working on a limited [[MANIAC I|6x6 board]], rather than the regulation 8x8. Nor did he know that [[Allen Newell]], [[Cliff Shaw|J. C. Shaw]], and [[Herbert Simon]] together, and [[John McCarthy]] independently, were also pondering chess-playing machines. Alex Bernstein only knew that the problem was hot ...   It was now that Bernstein became aware of [[Alan Turing|Turing’s]] work and read at least one of Shannon’s papers. When he finally began to see how he might codify some of the principles he felt were essential, he telephoned [[Claude Shannon]] at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]. “I went up to MIT and spent a day or two with him, telling him what I was planning to do, and he said he thought it was intelligent, and a good way of proceeding. Essentially I felt I’d received his blessings, which was pleasant.”  Bernstein also mentioned that he was working on the problem to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Lasker Dr. Edward Lasker], a well-known chess writer, who introduced him to [[Stanislaw Ulam]] of the Los Alamos group. Bernstein had the advantage that the Los Alamos group didn’t have, of a machine with a large amount of memory, although the four thousand words of memory the [[IBM 704]] had to begin with were insufficient for Bernstein’s program in the end. The 704’s memory was to have doubled by the time Bernstein finished his program, and he still came within two hundred words of overflowing memory.  So Bernstein’s chess program selected what seemed to be the likeliest fruitful moves, and these it examined in considerable depth, comparing one to another among a number of dimensions. The program contained a large data base, which allowed it to examine any particular piece or square at any time. In descending order of importance, the program asked such questions as, Is the [[King|king]] in [[Check|check]]? If the king is in check, there is nothing else to do. Is the king in [[Check#DoubleCheck|double check]]? If he is, merely to capture one piece that threatens the king will be insufficient; the king must be moved. The next question had to do with [[Material|material]]: is there any to be gained, or any in danger of [[Captures|capture]]? And clearly it is more important to rescue or capture a rook than to rescue or capture a pawn, and this was factored into the program.  ==McCarthy==As mentioned by [[John McCarthy]] <ref>[http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/slides/dartmouth/dartmouth/node1.html The Dartmouth Workshop--as planned and as it happened]</ref>, the Bernstein Chess Program under construction was presented at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmouth_workshop 1956 Dartmouth workshop]: Alex Bernstein of IBM presented his chess program under construction. My reaction was to invent and recommend to him [[Alpha-Beta|alpha-beta]] pruning. He was unconvinced.
=Shannon Type B=
* [[Alex Bernstein]], [[Michael de V. Roberts]], [[Timothy Arbuckle]], [[Martin Belsky]] ('''1958'''). ''[https://www.computerhistory.org/chess/doc-431e18a41d415/ A chess playing program for the IBM 704]''. Proceedings of the 1958 Western Joint Computer Conference
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Leiber Fritz Leiber] ('''1962'''). ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Leiber_bibliography#Short_stories The 64-Square Madhouse]''. [http://www.unz.org/Pub/WorldsIfSF-1962may-00064 Worlds of If] <ref>[http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49858 Fritz Leiber's "The 64-Square Madhouse"] by [[Ian Osgood]], [[CCC]], October 28, 2013</ref>
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_McCorduck Pamela McCorduck] ('''1979'''). ''Machines Who Think''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._H._Freeman_and_Company W. H. Freeman]
* [[David Levy]], [[Monroe Newborn]] ('''1982'''). ''[http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-642-85538-2 All About Chess and Computers]''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springer_Science%2BBusiness_Media Springer]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_McCorduck Pamela McCorduck] ('''2004'''). ''[[Artificial Intelligence#MachinesWhoThink|Machines Who Think: A Personal Inquiry into the History and Prospects of Artificial Intelligence]]''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_K_Peters A. K. Peters] (25th anniversary edition)
=External Links=
* [https://www.computerhistory.org/chess/search/?q=Alex+Bernstein Alex Bernstein] from [[The Computer History Museum]]
* [httphttps://webwww.archivegettyimages.orgde/webfotos/20071221115817/httpibm-704?editorialproducts=timelife&family=editorial&phrase=IBM%20704&page=1&recency=anydate&suppressfamilycorrection=true Photos] with [https://classicchessen.googlepageswikipedia.comorg/wiki/Chess.htm Classic Computer Chess - ... The programs of yesteryear] by [[Carey Bloodworth|CareyEdward_Lasker Edward Lasker]], hosted by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archive Internet ArchiveAndreas_Feininger Andreas Feininger] <ref>, [httphttps://wwwen.talkchesswikipedia.comorg/forumwiki/viewtopic.php?t=56938&start=2 Re: Old programs CHAOS and USCGetty_Images Getty Images] by » [[Dann Corbit]], [[CCCIBM 704#QuoteMachinesWhoThink|Quote from Machines Who Think]], July 11, 2015</ref>* [httphttps://www.gettyimageschess.decom/searchblog/2Ginger_GM/image?phrase=IBM+704&editorialproducts=timelife&family=editorial Photosthe-history-of-computer-chess-part-3-alex-bernstein The History of Computer Chess - Part 3 - Alex Bernstein] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Feininger Andreas FeiningerSimon_Williams_(chess_player) Simon Williams], [https://en[Chess.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty_Images Getty Imagescom]], August 31, 2019* [httphttps://www.research.ibmchess.com/deepblueblog/Ginger_GM/referencethe-history-of-computer-chess-part-4-alex-bernstein-continued The History of Computer Chess - Part 4 - Alex Bernstein continued...] by [https:/html/ien.3wikipedia.html Chess Pieces - IBM Researchorg/wiki/Simon_Williams_(chess_player) Simon Williams] the , [[Deep BlueChess.com]] site, September 28, 2019
* [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1958/11/29/runner-up-4 Runner-Up - The New Yorker - November 29, 1958]
* Alex Bernstein: ''juega al ajedrez con un'' IBM 704 (Thinking Machines), [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube YouTube] Video
'''[[Engines|Up one Level]]'''
[[Category:Mainframe|Bernstein Chess Program]]
[[Category:Quotes|Bernstein Chess Program]]
[[Category:McCarthy Quotes|Bernstein Chess Program]]

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