1 Introduction.- 1.1 Programming a Computer for Playing Chess.- 1.2 Chess.- 1.3 The Chess Machine: An Example of Dealing with a Complex Task by Adaptation.- 2 Famous Chess Programs.- 2.1 Chess Playing Programs and the Problem of Complexity (excerpt).- 2.2 Computer v Chess Player.- 2.3 A Chess Playing Program for the ibm 7090.- 2.4 The Greenblatt Chess Program.- 2.5 The Technology Chess Program.- 2.6 chess 4.5 - The Northwestern University Chess Program.- 2.7 Cray Blitz.- 3 Position Evaluation 112.- 3.1 Statistics for the Chess Computer and the Factor of Mobility.- 3.2 A Five-Year Plan for Automatic Chess (excerpt).- 4 Tree Searching Techniques.- 4.1 Tree-Searching and Tree-Pruning Techniques.- 4.2 Some Methods of Controlling the Tree Search in Chess Programs.- 4.3 The Heuristic Search and the Game of Chess. A Study of Quiescence, Sacrifices and Plan Oriented Play.- 4.4 A Theory of Evaluative Comments in Chess with a Note on Minimaxing.- 5 Analysis.- 5.1 The Sequence of Phases.- 5.2 Skill in Chess.- 5.3 Decision Making and Computers.- 5.4 A Chess Mating Combinations Program.- 5.5 Robot Chess.- 6 Writing a Chess Program.- 6.1 A Computer Chess Tutorial.- 6.2 Using Patterns and Plans in Chess.- 6.3 Mate at a Glance.- 7 Special Purpose Software and Hardware.- 7.1 Some Ideas for a Chess Compiler.- 7.2 Robots.- 7.3 CHEOPS: A Chess-orientated Processing System.- 7.4 BELLE: Chess Hardware.- 8 The Endgame.- 8.1 Co-Ordinate Squares: A Solution to Many Chess Pawn Endgames.- 8.2 Goal-Directed Search in Chess Endgames.- 8.3 Computer Analysis of a Rook End-Game.- 9 Games Played by Chess Programs.- 9.1 Games from the ACM Tournaments.- 9.2 Games from the World Computer Championships.- 9.3 Blitz Games between Computers and Human Players.- 9.4 Simultaneous Games between ComputerPrograms and Human Players.- 9.5 Games Played by Computer Programs in Human Tournaments.- 9.6 Miscellaneous Games played by Computer Programs.- 9.7 The World Microcomputer Championships.