The Turk
Mouret is best known as a hidden operator of Automaton Chess Player known as The Turk, a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century and traveled around Europe in the early 19th century. The Automaton, manufactured by Kempelen was shown for the first time to the Austrian court in 1769. After the death of Kempelen in 1805 it came in possession of the German engineer Johann Maelzel who exploited first in Europe and then from 1826 in the USA. Mouret was one of many strong players who played hidden in the Turk (others being Johann Baptist Allgaier, who defeated Napoleon in 1809, Schlumberger, Boncourt and Lewis). Fifty games of the Turk during his exhibition in London in 1819, while the machine was operated by Mouret, are collected in a book published in 1820. The preface states that to February 1820 (date of publication of the book), The Turk had played about 300 games giving the advantage of pawn and move to his opponents and he only has ever lost six.