While our main objective in this article is to review a spate of recent books on computer chess, we believe this can best be done in the context of surveying the field as a whole, and pointing out valuable contributions to the literature, both past and present. We have appended a bibliography of those items which we consider to constitute a definitive set of readings on the subject at hand.
Pre-History
Even before there were computers there was computer chess. The first instance was a famous automaton constructed by Baron von Kempelen in 1770, which played excellent chess. It won most of its games against all comers which supposedly included Napoleon. The automaton consisted of a large box with chess pieces on top and a proliferation of gear wheels inside, which were shown in magician fashion, one compartment at a time to the audience before a performance. However, a skilled (and small) chessplayer was artfully hidden in the midst of all this machinery, and this was the actual reason for the "mechanism's" success.
In contrast, a genuine piece of science was the electro-mechanical device constructed by Torres y Quevedo, a Spanish engineer, in 1890 which was capable of mating with king and rook vs. king. Its construction was certainly a marvel of its day.