Larry Atkin

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|| [[image:Slate_Atkins.ACM_1979.jpg width="258" height="363" link="http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=stl-430b9bbd97538"]] ||~   || **Lawrence R. (Larry) Atkin**,
an American computer scientist, former chess programmer and consultant. Along with [[Keith Gorlen]] (1968), [[David Slate]] (1969) and [[CDC Cyber]] hardware consultant [[David Cahlander]], Larry Atkin was the initial author of the [[Northwestern University|Northwestern University's]] program [[Chess (Program)|Chess]], which almost dominated computer chess during the 70s in the United States.

Larry Atkin further was lead programmer at Odesta aka Helix Technologies and co-creator of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_%28database%29|Helix database]] and is now consultant at //QSA Toolworks// <ref>[[http://qsatoolworks.com/|QSA ToolWorks, LLC Home Page]]</ref> and various companies <ref>[[http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryatkin|Larry Atkin | LinkedIn]]</ref>. ||
|| Larry Atkin and [[David Slate]], [[ACM 1979]] <ref>[[http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=stl-430b9bbd97538|Larry Atkin (front) and David Slate at the 10th ACM North American Computer Chess Championship in Detroit, Michigan]], 1979, Gift of [[Monroe Newborn]] from [[The Computer History Museum]]</ref> ||~   ||^   ||
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=Photos= 
|| [[image:Newborn_Matsa_Slate_Atkins_Mittman.ACM_1970.jpg link="http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=stl-430b9bbda1178"]] ||
|| [[David Slate]] accepts first prize from [[ACM]] president [[http://digitalartmuseum.org/history/index.htm|Sam Matsa]] for winning the
[[ACM 1970|1st North American Computer Chess Championship]] 1970 with his and Larry Atkin's
[[Chess (Program)|Chess]] program. [[Monroe Newborn|Monty Newborn]] (far left), [[Ben Mittman]] (far right) <ref>[[http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=stl-430b9bbda1178|Slate and Atkin win 1st World Computer Chess Championship in New York City, New York]] 1970, Photo of [[Monroe Newborn]] from [[The Computer History Museum]]</ref>. ||
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|| [[image:3-1_and_3-3.Atkin.ACM_6_NACCC.Minneapolis.1975.102645358.NEWBORN.lg.jpg link="http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=stl-430b9bbdbe635"]] ||
|| Atkin at [[ACM 1975|6th ACM North American Computer Chess Championship]], 1975 <ref>[[http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=stl-430b9bbdbe635|Atkin at 6th ACM North American Computer Chess Championship in Minneapolis]], 1975, Photo by [[Monroe Newborn]] from [[The Computer History Museum]]</ref> ||
=Chess 0.5=
In 1978 Larry Atkin wrote a didactic program in [[Pascal]] along with [[Peter W. Frey]], which was published as [[Chess 0.5]] in the [[Byte Magazine]] <ref>[[http://www.devili.iki.fi/library/author/1442.en.html|Larry R. Atkin Magazine articles]]</ref>, and re-published on-line in 2005, available from [[http://www.moorecad.com/standardpascal/scottmoore.html|Scott A. Moore's]] sites <ref>[[http://www.moorecad.com/standardpascal/ByteChess.txt|Chess 0.5, Release 1 - 2005-05-30]]</ref><ref>[[http://www.moorecad.com/standardpascal/Chess05.pas|Byte Chess 0.5 source code]]</ref>. 

=Applied Concepts=
In the '80s Larry Atkin worked for [[Applied Concepts]] on [[Dedicated Chess Computers|dedicated chess computers]] and is mentioned along with [[David Slate]] as co-author of the [[Morphy#Gruenfeld|Gruenfeld]] and [[Morphy#Capablanca|Capablanca]] module programs for the [[Great Game Machine]] and the [[Chafitz Modular Game System|Chafitz modular game system]] . He is further sole author of the [[Steinitz#Edition4|Steinitz Edition 4]] <ref>[[http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Chafitz_Steinitz_Edition|Chafitz Steinitz Edition]] from [[http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Hauptseite_En|Schachcomputer.info Wiki]] (German)</ref> <ref>[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Steinitz|Wilhelm Steinitz from Wikipedia]]</ref>, and the [[Steinitz#Encore|Steinitz Encore]] <ref>[[http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Chafitz_Steinitz_Encore|Chafitz Steinitz Encore]] from [[http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Hauptseite_En|Schachcomputer.info Wiki]] (German)</ref>, both running on a 8-bit [[6502]] processor with 2 resp. 4 Mhz. Capablanca was later converted to be [[Chess 7.0]] for the [[Apple II]], [[Atari 8-bit|Atari 800]], and [[Commodore 64]] published by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_%28database%29|Odesta]]. Even later it became "How About a Nice Game of Chess" for the Apple IIe <ref>[[http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24419|chess 7.0]] by [[Will Singleton]], [[CCC]], October 16, 2008</ref> <ref>[[http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/commodore_c64_chess_7_0.html|Commodore 64/128 Old Computer Chess Game Collection - Chess 7.0]] from [[The Spacious Mind]]</ref>. Along with Peter W. Frey, Larry Atkin is co-author of the  [[Othello]] program //Odin// <ref>[[http://www.othello.dk/book/index.php/Odin|Odin - The Othello Wiki Book Project]]</ref>, which also ran as module of the [[Great Game Machine]]. 

=Selected Publications= 
* [[David Slate]], [[Larry Atkin]], [[Keith Gorlen]] (**1971**). //CHESS 3.5 User Guide//. [[Northwestern University]]
* [[Larry Atkin]] (**1975**). //Chess 3.6: A Chess Playing Computer Program.// Masters Thesis, [[Northwestern University]], June 1975
* [[David Slate]], [[Larry Atkin]] (**1977**). //CHESS 4.5 - The Northwestern University Chess Program.// [[Chess Skill in Man and Machine]] (ed. [[Peter W. Frey]]), pp. 82-118. Springer-Verlag, New York, N.Y. 2nd ed. 1983. ISBN 0-387-90815-3. Reprinted (**1988**) in [[Computer Chess Compendium]] 
* [[Peter W. Frey]], [[Larry Atkin]] (**1978**). //[[http://www.computerhistory.org/chess/full_record.php?iid=doc-431614f6d5ba2|Creating a Chess Player]].// An Essay on Human and Computer Chess Skill, [[Byte Magazine#BYTE310|BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 10]], pp. 182-191. [[http://archive.computerhistory.org/projects/chess/related_materials/text/3-3.Creating_A_Chess_Player/Creating_A_Chess_Player.Frey_Atkin.Byte_Magazine.Oct-1978.062303029.pdf|pdf]] from [[The Computer History Museum]]
* [[Peter W. Frey]], [[Larry Atkin]] (**1978**). //Creating a Chess Player, Part 2: Chess 0.5//. [[Byte Magazine#BYTE311|BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 11]]
* [[Peter W. Frey]], [[Larry Atkin]] (**1978**). //Creating a Chess Player, Part 3: Chess 0.5 (continued)//. [[Byte Magazine#BYTE312|BYTE, Vol. 3, No. 12]]
* [[Peter W. Frey]], [[Larry Atkin]] (**1979**). //[[https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1979-01/1979_01_BYTE_04-01_Life_Algorithms#page/n127/mode/2up|Creating a Chess-Player, Part 4: Thoughts on Strategy]]//. In [[http://cs.millersville.edu/~liffick/|Blaise W. Liffick]] (ed.), [[http://books.google.com/books/about/The_BYTE_book_of_Pascal.html?id=ofpfQgAACAAJ|The Byte Book of Pascal]], pp. 143-155. Byte Publications, also [[Byte Magazine#BYTE401|BYTE, Vol. 4, No. 1]]

=External Links= 
* [[http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryatkin|Larry Atkin | LinkedIn]]
* [[http://www.game-ai-forum.org/icga-tournaments/person.php?id=128|Larry Atkin's ICGA Tournaments]]
* [[http://www.othello.dk/book/index.php/Larry_Atkin|Larry Atkin - The Othello Wiki Book Project]]
* [[http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/commodore_c64_chess_7_0.html|Commodore 64/128 Old Computer Chess Game Collection - Chess 7.0]] from [[The Spacious Mind]]
* [[http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Atkin,_Larry|Atkin, Larry]] from [[http://www.schach-computer.info/wiki/index.php/Hauptseite_En|Schachcomputer.info Wiki]] (German)

=References= 
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=What links here?= 
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