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    The Chess Machine: A Novel
    The Chess Machine: A Novel
    The Chess Machine: A Novel
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Chess Machine: A Novel

    Written by Robert Lohr

    Narrated by Stephen Hoye

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Based on a true story, The Chess Machine is the breathtaking historical adventure of a legendary invention that astounded all who crossed its path.

    Vienna, 1770: Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen unveils a strange and amazing invention: the Mechanical Turk, a sensational and unbeatable chess-playing automaton. But what the Habsburg court hails as the greatest innovation of the century is really nothing more than a brilliant illusion. The chess machine is secretly operated from inside by the Italian dwarf Tibor, a God-fearing social outcast whose chess-playing abilities and diminutive size make him the perfect accomplice in this grand hoax.

    Von Kempelen and his helpers tour his remarkable invention all around Europe to amaze and entertain the public, but despite many valiant attempts and close calls, no one is able to beat the extraordinary chess machine. The crowds all across Europe adore the Turk, and the success of Baron von Kempelen seems assured. But when a beautiful and seductive countess dies under mysterious circumstances in the presence of the automaton, the Mechanical Turk falls under a cloud of suspicion, and the machine and his inventor become the targets of espionage, persecution, and aristocratic intrigue. What is the dark secret behind this automaton, and what strange powers does it hold? The Chess Machine is a daring and remarkable tale, based on a true story, full of envy, lust, scandal, and deception.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateOct 1, 2007
    ISBN9781400175130
    The Chess Machine: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Chess Machine

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    • 3/5
      Interesting adaptation of the true story of Wolfgang von Kempelen's chess playing automaton. It intertwines real people with fictional characters such as Tibor, the Italian dwarf who is the first brains of the machine. The historical story was interesting but the characters and how they interact are what makes the story. This was an audiobook. The narrator was clear and interesting. The story follows two time tracks and at times I found myself having to reorient myself to which track we were on. Still all in all very interesting.
    • 1/5
      Too speculative, for a work of non-fiction, and too unoriginal for a work of fiction. The first dozen pages start out with great promise, but then it simply becomes a pulp thriller with the chess automaton as just a peripheral plot element.

      It really has a cool cover though!
    • 4/5
      *Inventing Madness*Like the device this story is about, this book is like an intricate mechanism that has cogwheels turning the pages, springs to keep the reader in the lurch, pullies that tug the reader along without pause. It has many gears for continuous movement from start to finish. The Chess Machine offers the reader a lighthearted fun frolic through Europe in the late 1700s as we learn the story that is based on the true life invention of the Mechanical Turk. The Turk was an automaton chess playing machine invented by Wolfgang Kempelen who created this mechanical marvel and took Europe by storm taking it on the road to entertain the wealthy and the royal. This is a creative novel with a plot and story different than the norm and offers the reader many hours of pure reading enjoyment. We have great characters, a creative story, good writing and many well thought out side plots that twist and turn. There are few slow spots but basically the story moves along at a good pace, never predictable and has a few surprises that come at you rather sudden to leave you stunned. There is great character development for a few of the key players and the author blends sincere human emotions with constant conflicting morals and values to allow them to come alive on paper. I thoroughly enjoyed the ingenuity of this novel and felt it a breath of fresh air to read something out of the ordinary. This is a very visual story, very colorful with vivid historical costumed scenes and lavish backdrops. Because of that I think it would make a splendid film as well. This is truly a wonderful debut novel and I eagerly await another book from the author.
    • 3/5
      The idea that this was based on actual events intrigued me, but I soon realized that it was mostly fiction. The actual events associated with von Kempelen's chess machine are not well documented and the actual machine is long lost. I was hoping that we had diaries or letters or some such to draw from, but we don't and the author's imagination had to fill in much of the story. That's not to say the story wasn't interesting or compelling. It was. The story is told in mostly the linear style with occasional flashes forward in time. This reassures us that certain characters prevail or at least survive, but does not diminish the suspense; we want to know what happened and how. The human element was obviously the most fascinating. As soon as von Kempelen 'rescued' Tibor, I knew it would only be a matter of time until it became strained. The balance of power in that relationship was very much on the side of Tibor until von Kempelen managed to tie Tibor to a murder. When Tibor tired of being the chess machine's brain and tried to make a break for freedom, von Kempelen's threats of exposure, prison and possible execution transformed his at will chess-playing to virtual enslavement. Von Kempelen could not separate his life from the machine no matter how ruinous it became for him. The dead woman's brother wished revenge. His wife begged him to give up the chess machine. A rival machinist, still stung by his loss to The Turk, planted a spy in von Kempelen's household to ferret out the secret of the chess automaton. Tibor was tired and his engineer wanted to leave his employ as well. But von Kempelen would not stop. He craved the fame and fortune that came with exhibiting The Turk. He also feared he would never be able to top it. The Turk itself is very interesting and at the same time, hard to imagine. We've come so far from mechanical clockwork devices that it's difficult to envision such a contraption. It was basically a large cabinet with a mechanical man built into the side and facing a chessboard on its surface. The automaton was dressed as a Turk and thus the name. The cabinet design concealed a compartment where Tibor would work the machinery and execute The Turk's moves. This was done without direct visual aid and depended too much on ideal circumstances. When the Empress decides that her match must take place outside in the blazing summer sun it becomes a disaster. It was touted as a thinking machine which is unimaginable to me because of its mechanical nature. How could anyone think that this collection of gears and wheels could actually reason? But as clockwork was the height of machinery advancement, the people thought it could. Except for the rival machinist who knew there had to be a trick. This man turned over many ideas in his head about what could really be driving the automaton. Maybe it was von Kempelen himself since he was never far from the apparatus during play. He even checked the inside to see if there was a man in there (the cabinet itself was so cleverly designed, people could look right in both sides and never see Tibor). But since the cabinet was too small for a regular sized person to hide in he dismissed the idea without it occurring to him that it might be a dwarf. The attitudes toward dwarves by the normally statured are astounding to me; they were abominations or works of the devil and many people didn't even count them as human. Of course it didn't occur to them that one might be the secret to the whole operation. The writing is fairly straightforward and reads somewhat like an encyclopedia. I'm not sure if this is due to the author or the translation. What is lost in verve is made up for in pacing and plot structure. Luckily for me, as I'm not a chess player nor have much interest in the game, not much of the novel is taken up by play information or lots of boring lists of moves or gambits. It is interesting though to read about how popular a pastime it was and how so many people could play. The ending is a bit weak, but it does build a great amount of tension so the calmness of the final chapter is necessary. There are some nice comeuppances along the way, too, but no revenge is complete. There are few sympathetic characters. Tibor himself is the most sympathetic. Dwarfism is a heavy burden for him and he seems to go from master to master and has not lived a truly independent life. He is also often targeted for theft, betrayal and cruel practical jokes. He is very religious and his transgressions and sins really trouble him. The author says he transformed von Kempelen's true character as recorded by his contemporaries, but he had to for the sake of the fiction he wove around the facts. It is too bad there isn't more documentation, but given the heavy secrecy surrounding The Turk, it's not surprising. It's also quite sad that the automaton itself hasn't survived. It would be something to see.
    • 4/5
      Tibor Scardinelli is a chess playing destitute dwarf down on his luck and thrown into prison when he receives a visit from Baron Wolfgang Von Kempelen in his cell. Von Kempelen gives him an intriguing offer. He will arrange the release of Tibor from his cell if he will agree to work for him as the secret brain of his chess playing machine.Von Kempelen is desperate. He rashly promised Empress Maria Theresa that he could build a machine that could think and she gave him 6 months to do it in. He decided to build a machine that could play chess and win every game but of course in the 18th century, such technology is impossible. So he decides to cheat and hide a man inside the machine to make the moves instead. He needs Tibor to be that man. But initially he says no.He finally agrees and the chess machine becomes a sensation as everyone thinks that it is a real thinking machine - the "Turk". But then a prominent high society woman dies in the Turk's presence and suddenly von Kempelen and Tibor are in a tight spot. Questions start to be asked about the Turk and how it works. Tibor starts to want out of the arrangement. Von Kempelen starts to take measures to protect his investment. The dead woman's relatives want revenge. People at court want to take down von Kempelen and humiliate him. Von Kempelen's wife wants their old life back.This is an excellent book and I can see a movie coming out of this. There were parts which dragged a little and parts which stretched credibility to the limits. But nevertheless, it's still an excellent story and one which I highly recommend. You don't even need to like chess to like the story!