Ferranti Mark 1 - One of The Oldest Computer Games

One of The Oldest Computer Games

In November 1951, Dr. Dietrich Prinz wrote one of the oldest computer games, a chess-playing program for the Manchester Ferranti Mark 1 computer. The limitation of the Mark 1 computer did not allow for a whole game of chess to be programmed. Prinz could only program mate-in-two chess problems. The program examined every possible move for White and Black (thousands of possible moves) until a solution was found, which took 15–20 minutes on average. The program’s restrictions were: no castling; no double move, no en passant, and no promotion for pawns; no distinction between checkmate and stalemate.

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