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Joseph Henry (Joe) Condon, (February 15, 1935 - January 2, 2012) ^[1]
was an American experimental physicist and electrical engineer, Ph.D. in physics from Northwestern University, and affiliated with the Bell Laboratories. Along with Ken Thompson, Joe Condon was creator of the chess entity Belle, the winner of the 3rd World Computer Chess Championship 1980 in Linz ^[2]. Joseph Henry Condon died on January 2, 2012 at the age of 76.

Photos & Games

ACM 1978

Belle, Joe Condon and Ken Thompson revisiting the 1978 ACM Blitz 6.5 - Belle game (1982). [3]

[Event "ACM 1978"]
[Site "Washington D.C."]
[Date "1978.12.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Blitz 6.5"]
[Black "Belle"]
[Result "0-1"]
 
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Bc4 Bc5 6.Nxe5 Qe7 7.Bxf7+ Kf8 8.Ng6+ hxg6 
9.Bc4 Nxe4 10.O-O Rxh2 11.Kxh2 Qh4+ 12.Kg1 Ng3 13.Qh5  gxh5 14.fxg3+ Nf3# 0-1

WCCC 1983

Ken Thompson, Frederic Friedel, Joe Condon, David Slate, and William Blanchard [4]

WCCC 1983, Nuchess - Belle ^[5]

[Event "WCCC 1983"]
[Site "New York, USA"]
Date "1983.10.23"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Nuchess"]
[Black "Belle"]
[Result "1-0"]
 
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.O-O Be7 7.e5 Ne4 8.Nxd4 O-O 
9.Nf5 d5 10.exd6 Bxf5 11.dxe7 Nxe7 12.Be3 Nd5 13.Qf3 Nxe3 14.fxe3 Bg6 15.Qf4 b5 
16.Bb3 c5 17.c4 Qf6 18.Qxf6 Nxf6 19.Rc1 b4 20.Nd2 Rfe8 21.Re1 Rad8 22.Nf1 Bd3 
23.Rad1 Ng4 24.Ba4 Rf8 25.Nd2 Ne5 26.Bb3 Rd6 27.Nf3 Nxf3+ 28.gxf3 f5 29.Rd2 Re8 
30.Kf2 f4 31.exf4 Rxe1 32.Kxe1 Rd4 33.Kf2 Kf7 34.Ke3 Bxc4 35.Rxd4 cxd4+ 36.Kxd4 
Bxb3 37.axb3 Kf6 38.Ke4 g6 39.h4 Ke6 40.f5+ gxf5+ 41.Kd4 Kd6 42.f4 Ke6 43.Kc5 a5 
44.h5 Kf7 45.Kd5 Kf6 46.Kd6 Kf7 47.Ke5 Ke8 48.Kxf5 1-0

Quotes

Quote from An Oral History of Unix about Joe Condon ^[6]:

He originally began his career at Bell Labs as a physicist/metallurgist and for political reasons moved into a project that involved UNIX. Condon possessed exceptional technical /research skills; he understood how a computer works, not just how to use it

Selected Publications

• Joe Condon, Ken Thompson (1982). Belle Chess Hardware, Advances in Computer Chess 3, Reprinted (1988) in Computer Chess Compendium
• Joe Condon, Ken Thompson (1983). BELLE. Chess Skill in Man and Machine

External Links

• Joe Condon's ICGA Tournaments
• Interview with Joseph H. Condon from An Oral History of Unix from the Princeton University
• Joe Condon from The Computer History Museum
• Ritchie & Thompson - Belle for Chess from I Programmer - programming, reviews and projects, January 26, 2011
• Creator of Belle computer chess dies at 76, NJ.com, March 02, 2012

References

1. ^ Creator of Belle computer chess dies at 76, NJ.com, March 02, 2012
2. ^ Joe Condon's ICGA Tournaments
3. ^ Dennis Ritchie (2001). Ken, Unix, and Games, ICGA Journal, Vol. 24. No. 2
4. ^ Photo Courtesy Monroe Newborn, The Computer History Museum
5. ^ New York 1983 - Chess - Round 3 - Game 1 (ICGA Tournaments)
6. ^ Joseph H. Condon from An Oral History of Unix from the Princeton University

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