Odyssey of a chess machine

The plot of this book & ndash; not just a romantic fiction of the author, but also an attempt at a historical study of one of the most delightful hoaxes of the Enlightenment, so rich in all sorts of inventions. 250 years ago, the outstanding inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen designed a mechanical chess player, the great-great-grandfather of modern chess computers. The Kempelen submachine gun toured extensively throughout Europe from Vienna to Paris and London, beating up nobles and even crowned heads - ndash; Frederick the Great and Napoleon. Attempts to penetrate the automaton’s secret have been made repeatedly, often by the most insidious methods that endangered the life of Kempelen and his companions ...
Viktor L. Henkin (1923-2010), a chess master, a journalist and a writer, worked on a novel for about a quarter of a century, trying to recreate as precisely as possible the atmosphere of a distant 18th century. Striving for perfection, he rewrote many times and rewrote ready-made chapters and did not manage to finish his novel. The work was completed by his wife, Tatyana Gubarkova, with whom Victor Khenkin always shared his creative ideas, and discussed in detail the plot lines. For lovers of history, chess and adventure literature.