Answers.Body: <p>A similar question was asked on <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-strong-of-a-chess-player-was-Alan-Turing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">another forum</a> a few years ago, and the answer that was given was <em>"Alan Turing wasn’t a very strong chess player at all. He was probably at the level of a beginner. He certainly knew the rules of the game, but not much more."</em></p>
  
  <p>Wikipedia <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turochamp" rel="nofollow noreferrer">notes</a>, regarding the chess program that Turing and a colleague designed, <em>"... the algorithm is primarily designed around the decision to take a piece or not; according to Turing, the resulting gameplay produces a low level game of chess, which he considered commensurate with his self-described average skill level at the game."</em>  According to the article, Turing's algorithm (it's really difficult to call it a "program", as it never ran on any actual computer - Turning only ever "ran" it on pencil and paper) only looked two half-moves ahead, applied a static evaluation function to each resulting position, and selected as the next move whichever one led to the highest average evaluation after the following half-move.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-01-01T09:01:29.793Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-01-01T09:22:29.753Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-01-01T09:22:29.753Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: patbarron
Body: <p>It is interesting that Turing worked with some of the best British chess players among them Golombek and Alexander. I am not sure how to characterize it, but he is considered a creative genius at a level and was certainly very important and successful in the code-breaking efforts during WW2.</p>
  <p>He would play with Golombek, who I think could allow Turing to change color at a point of his choosing during the game. Although, I am not sure of the constraints; maybe it was up to a certain move. Golombek could then beat Turing from Turing's presumably losing position. I have never played at those odds, but I can't imagine, assuming that Golombek was playing to win, that Turing had much of a position, to begin with. On the other hand, perhaps, Golombek would try to keep a more or less even game so that he had chances. Anyway, I really wonder how weak of a player Turing was and if perhaps some of his games survive.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-12-30T08:29:45.197Z
Comments.Text: Only [one game found](https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=96117) from 1952 and Turing lost.
Comments.UserDisplayName: TheSimpliFire
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-12-30T08:33:26.107Z
Comments.Text: Unclear that this a real game or one using the "program" Turing had written which, as I understand it, was just a series of rules that a player would follow simulating being a computer. It is interesting that as late as the 1970s some good players who also were computer scientists could not imagine a world champ computer chess player.
Comments.UserDisplayName: releseabe
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-12-30T11:56:39.720Z
Comments.Text: The text indicates that it was not Turing, who played that game. I have a strong suspicion that you will not be able to get an answer for this question as I could also find no games that he played, and thus, cannot make any reasonable guess. I will say that if he were able to hang with Golombek, even for a while, he must have been a fair bit stronger than just a pure beginner. Of course, I also suspect that had he not had more important things to do, and devoted himself to the game, he would have easily been a Master, if not a lot stronger.
Comments.UserDisplayName: PhishMaster
Tags: <history><famous-games><odds>
Title: How bad of a chess player was Alan Turing?
ThreadText: # How bad of a chess player was Alan Turing?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-12-30)
  
  It is interesting that Turing worked with some of the best British chess players among them Golombek and Alexander. I am not sure how to characterize it, but he is considered a creative genius at a level and was certainly very important and successful in the code-breaking efforts during WW2.
  
  He would play with Golombek, who I think could allow Turing to change color at a point of his choosing during the game. Although, I am not sure of the constraints; maybe it was up to a certain move. Golombek could then beat Turing from Turing's presumably losing position. I have never played at those odds, but I can't imagine, assuming that Golombek was playing to win, that Turing had much of a position, to begin with. On the other hand, perhaps, Golombek would try to keep a more or less even game so that he had chances. Anyway, I really wonder how weak of a player Turing was and if perhaps some of his games survive.
  
  **Tags:** history, famous-games, odds
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Only [one game found](https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=96117) from 1952 and Turing lost.  
  > **username_0**: Unclear that this a real game or one using the "program" Turing had written which, as I understand it, was just a series of rules that a player would follow simulating being a computer. It is interesting that as late as the 1970s some good players who also were computer scientists could not imagine a world champ computer chess player.  
  > **username_2**: The text indicates that it was not Turing, who played that game. I have a strong suspicion that you will not be able to get an answer for this question as I could also find no games that he played, and thus, cannot make any reasonable guess. I will say that if he were able to hang with Golombek, even for a while, he must have been a fair bit stronger than just a pure beginner. Of course, I also suspect that had he not had more important things to do, and devoted himself to the game, he would have easily been a Master, if not a lot stronger.  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2020-01-01. Score: 1
  
  A similar question was asked on [another forum](https://www.quora.com/How-strong-of-a-chess-player-was-Alan-Turing) a few years ago, and the answer that was given was *"Alan Turing wasn’t a very strong chess player at all. He was probably at the level of a beginner. He certainly knew the rules of the game, but not much more."*
  
  Wikipedia [notes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turochamp), regarding the chess program that Turing and a colleague designed, *"... the algorithm is primarily designed around the decision to take a piece or not; according to Turing, the resulting gameplay produces a low level game of chess, which he considered commensurate with his self-described average skill level at the game."* According to the article, Turing's algorithm (it's really difficult to call it a "program", as it never ran on any actual computer - Turning only ever "ran" it on pencil and paper) only looked two half-moves ahead, applied a static evaluation function to each resulting position, and selected as the next move whichever one led to the highest average evaluation after the following half-move.
  
  
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