Dan+Spracklen

an American computer scientist and [|microcomputer] chess pioneer. With his wife Kathe, Dan 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.
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 * [[image:DanSpracklen1978.jpg width="170" height="212" link="http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=stl-431f4cc14ba4b"]] ||~  || **Dan Spracklen**,

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. || toc =Photos=
 * Dan Spracklen, ACM 1978 ||~  ||^   ||
 * [[image:SargonSpracklens1978.jpg width="580" height="407" link="http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=stl-431f4cc14ba4b"]] ||
 * Kathe and Dan Spracklen, ACM 1978 ||
 * [[image:KittingerDanSpracklen1983.JPG width="581" height="415"]] ||
 * David Kittinger and Dan Spracklen at WMCCC 1983 ||
 * David Kittinger and Dan Spracklen at WMCCC 1983 ||

=Fidelity= After civil proceedings between manufacturer Applied Concepts and their sales company Chafitz, who first marketed their Sargon 2.5 program, the Spracklens began their long term collaboration with Sidney Samole and Fidelity Electronics in the 80s. Beside other successes, their computers won the first four World Microcomputer Chess Championships, Chess Challenger the WMCCC 1980, Fidelity X the WMCCC 1981, Elite Auto Sensory the WMCCC 1983 and Fidelity Elite X the WMCCC 1984 (shared).

=Saitek= In 1989 or 1990, soon after Samole sold Fidelity to Hegener & Glaser, Kathe and Dan Spracklen started to work for Eric Winkler and Saitek, and developed a program for Sparc processors. The loss of Kasparov Sparc against Ed Schröder's ChessMachine in Madrid 1992, almost ended their involvement in computer chess when they didn't win that world title.

=Oral History= Excerpt from their //Oral History// :

How it started

 * **Danny Spracklen**:


 * Kathleen Spracklen**:


 * Danny Spracklen**: ||

The Last WCCC

 * Q:


 * Danny Spracklen**:


 * Danny Spracklen**:


 * Danny Spracklen**: ||

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=See also=
 * Spracklens debugging with Apple II ICE

=Selected Publications=
 * Dan Spracklen, Kathe Spracklen (**1978**). //SARGON: A Computer Chess Program//. Hayden Bk.Co. ISBN: 978-0810451551, [|amazon.com]
 * Dan Spracklen, Kathe Spracklen (**1978**). //First Steps in Computer Chess Programming//. BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 10, [|pdf] from The Computer History Museum
 * Dan Spracklen, Kathe Spracklen (**1978**). //An Exchange Evaluator for Computer Chess//. BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 11
 * [|Gardner Hendrie] (**2005**). //Oral History of Kathe and Dan Spracklen//. [|pdf] and [|Video] from The Computer History Museum

=External Links= > [|Oral History of Kathleen and Danny Spracklen], March 2, 2005 by [|Gardner Hendrie], The Computer History Museum
 * [|Dan Spracklen's ICGA Tournaments]
 * [|Dan and Kathe Spracklen] from [|ChessComputers.org]
 * [|Dan and Kathe Spracklen] from [|The Othello Wiki Book Project]
 * [|Search the Mastering the Game exhibition and on-line collection] from The Computer History Museum
 * [|Historic Pictures] by Ed Schröder
 * [|Computer Chess] by Dan and Kathe Spracklen from [|AtariArchives.org - archiving vintage computer books, information, and software]
 * [|Dan and Kathe Spracklen - The Othello Wiki Book Project]

=References= =What links here?= include page="Dan Spracklen" component="backlinks" limit="100"
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