Editore: International Computer Chess Association (Northwestern University), Evanston, IL, 1983
Da: Kuenzig Books ( ABAA / ILAB ), Topsfield, MA, U.S.A.
Pamphlet. Condizione: Near Fine. 17, [1 (blank] pages, self wrappers. 11 x 8 1/2 inches. Printed in green and black. Light overall wear. A nice copy. Pamphlet. First issued in May of 1978, this was the second to last issue of this scarce newsletter on computer chess. It was continued as the ICCA Journal which ran through 1999. According to OCLC, less than a dozen institutions have any examples of this newsletter in their collections. This issue includes an article "Tutorial: Representation of an Opening Book Tree" by Kathe Spracklen, a female mathematician and microcomputer chess pioneer. While Claude Shannon developed much of the theory of a computer playing chess in 1950, by this time microcomputers were available generally and computer nerds everywhere were experimenting with some pretty sophisticated programming (I'm a nerd myself so I can say that). It also includes a list of the participants in the ACM's 13th North American Computer Chess championship with fourteen (!!) programs competing. "Kathleen (Kathe) Spracklen was an American mathematician, computer scientist and microcomputer chess pioneer. Along with her husband Dan, Kathe started chess programming in 1977 on a Z-80 based Wavemate Jupiter III in assembly language. Their first program, Sargon had a one or two ply search without quiescence but exchange evaluation. After the success at The Second West Coast Computer Faire MCCT in March 1978, and the shared third place at ACM 1978, the Spracklens became professional computer chess programmers. Sargon II was ported to various early home computers, for instance TRS-80 and 6502 based Apple II, as well as dedicated units as Chafitz ARB Sargon 2.5.