Editing David Levy (chess player) (section)

== Life and career ==

Levy was born in London and went to [[Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet]]. He won the London Junior Chess Championship in 1965 and 1966.<ref name="Golombek p. 180">[[Harry Golombek]], ''Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess'', Crown Publishers, New York, p. 180. {{ISBN|0-517-53146-1}}.</ref> He won the [[Scottish Chess Championship]] in 1968. He tied for fifth place at the 1969 [[Praia da Rocha]] [[Interzonal#Zonal tournaments|Zonal]] [[tournament]], scoring over two-thirds and thereby obtaining the title of International Master.<ref name="Golombek p. 180" /> He played on Board One for the Scottish team at the 1972 [[Chess Olympiad]] in [[Skopje]], [[Yugoslavia]], scoring six wins, five draws, and seven losses (47.2%).<ref>Ray Keene and David Levy, ''Chess Olympiad 1972'', Doubleday, 1973, p. 212. {{ISBN|0-385-06925-1}}.</ref> After many years of inactivity as a tournament player, Levy returned to tournament play to play for the Scottish Senior Team.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Levy became a professional chess writer in 1971.<ref name="Golombek p. 180" /> Several of his books were co-written with English Grandmaster [[Raymond Keene]].<ref>E.g., R. D. Keene and D. N. L. Levy, ''Siegen Chess Olympiad'', CHESS Ltd., 1970; Ray Keene and David Levy, ''Chess Olympiad 1972'', Doubleday, 1973, {{ISBN|0-385-06925-1}}.</ref> Levy was married to Keene's sister [[Jacqueline Eales|Jacqueline]] for 17 years.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Eales|first1=Jacqueline|title=Levy vs. Keene|url=http://www.chessbanter.com/38495-post6.html|website=Chessbanter.com|publisher=Chessbanter|access-date=21 January 2017}}</ref> He has functioned as literary agent for the escaped [[Great Train Robbery (1963)|Great Train robber]], [[Ronald Biggs]] and claims to have masterminded his escape from British justice.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kingpinchess.net/2013/12/the-chess-player-and-the-train-robber-3/|title=Kingpin Chess Magazine » The Chess Player and the Train Robber|website=www.kingpinchess.net|date=18 December 2013 |access-date=2016-08-18}}</ref>

In 1974, Levy together with [[Monty Newborn]] and Ben Mittman organized the first [[World Computer Chess Championship]].  In 1978, he co-founded the International Computer Chess Association.{{fact|date=April 2025}}

In the late 1970s, Levy consulted with [[Texas Instruments]] on the development of the Chess module for the [[TI-99/4A]] Home Computer Project and went on to set up Intelligent Software to produce chess software and hardware for a number of companies including [[Milton Bradley Company|Milton Bradley]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Watters|first1=Mike|title=Chess Computers - The UK Story|url=http://www.chesscomputeruk.com/html/chess_computers_-_the_uk_story.html|website=Chess Computer UK|access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref> Intelligent Software would later collapse as a result of its involvement in the failed [[Enterprise (computer)|Enterprise]] home computer.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Tony|title=The story of the Elan Enterprise 128|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/24/elan_flan_enterprise_micro_is_30_years_old|website=The Register|access-date=10 September 2016}}</ref>

In 1997, he funded the team that won the [[Loebner Prize]] for the program called "CONVERSE".
The prize competition rewards the program that is best able to simulate human communication. Levy entered the contest again in 2009, and won.<ref name=guardian9916>[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/sep/16/sex-robots-david-levy-loebner Let's talk about sex ... with robots], ''The Guardian'', 16 September 2009</ref>

From 1986 to 1992 and from 1999 to 2018, he was the president of the International Computer Games Association.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://icga.org/?p=2672 | title=A New President &#124; Icga}}</ref>
He was Chairman of the Rules and Arbitration Committee for the [[Garry Kasparov|Kasparov]] vs. [[Junior (chess program)|Deep Junior]] chess match in New York City in 2003.

Levy once started a business called Tiger Computer Security with a computer hacker, [[Mathew Bevan]].

Levy also wrote ''[[Love and Sex with Robots]]'', published in the United States in 2007 by [[HarperCollins]], and in paperback in 2009 by [[Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd|Duckworth]] in the UK.<ref>{{cite book| last= Levy| first= David| title= Love and Sex with Robots| publisher= [[Gerald Duckworth and Company Ltd|Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd]]| date= 9 April 2009| edition=paperback| isbn= 978-0715637777 }}</ref> It is the commercial edition of his PhD thesis, which he defended successfully on 11 October 2007, at [[Maastricht University]], Netherlands. On 17 January 2008, he appeared on the late night television show ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' to promote his book. In September 2009, Levy predicted that sex robots would hit the market within a couple of years.<ref name=guardian9916/> He defended his controversial views on the potential future wide use of sex robots by the public, and also by sex offenders, in an interview with ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper in December 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/13/sex-love-and-robots-the-end-of-intimacy|title=Sex, love and robots: is this the end of intimacy?|last=Wiseman|first=Eva|date=2015-12-13|website=The Guardian|access-date=2016-07-28}}</ref> Levy has also been working on a range of sexually erotic chatbots, which have been created by a team based in a lab in Malaysia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flirt-with-a-chatbot#/|title=Flirt with a Chatbot|website=Indiegogo|language=en-US|access-date=2016-08-02}}</ref> However his research into human-robot sexual relations has not been viewed favourably by the Malaysian authorities who ruled the 2015 Congress on Love and Sex with Robots, which was due to be co-chaired by Levy, as illegal<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hale-Stern|first1=Kaila|title=The Annual Love and Sex With Robots Conference Has Been Canceled|url=https://gizmodo.com/the-annual-love-and-sex-with-robots-conference-has-been-1738032832|website=Gizmodo|date=22 October 2015 |publisher=Future PLC|access-date=9 March 2017}}</ref> following the organisers' attempt to imply the Malaysian governments' endorsement by using the Tourism Malaysia logo on their website.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mustafa|first1=Mushamir|title=Authorities Shocked At Upcoming 'Love And Sex With Robots' Congress Which Carries Tourism Malaysia Logo, Threaten Action|url=http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/571741-authorities-shocked-at-upcoming-love-and-sex-with-robots-congress-which-carries-tourism-malaysia-logo-threaten-action.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002162627/http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/571741-authorities-shocked-at-upcoming-love-and-sex-with-robots-congress-which-carries-tourism-malaysia-logo-threaten-action.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2 October 2015|website=Malaysian Digest|access-date=9 March 2017}}</ref> The Congress on Love and Sex with Robots was again cancelled in 2018. Initially committee members of the International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment (ACE) objected to plans to partner the two events in Montana and [[Springer Nature]] cancelled plans to publish the proceedings due to a lack of academic papers.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://slate.com/technology/2018/12/love-sex-robots-conference-bannon-academic-research.html | title=We Need Academic Conferences About Robots, Love, and Sex | date=13 December 2018 | first=Marina | last=Adshade | publisher=Slate | access-date=25 June 2020}}</ref> Further controversy then arose over the invitation of [[Steve Bannon]] to keynote at ACE leading to both events being cancelled.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/steve-bannon-sex-robot-conference-lsr-ace-2018-adrian-cheok-university-montana-a8680336.html|title = Sex robot conference cancelled over Steve Bannon keynote backlash| website=[[Independent.co.uk]] |date = 14 December 2018}}</ref>

Levy was brought in to a new company called Retro Computers Ltd, by his friend Sir [[Clive Sinclair]]. This company was formed after a meeting with Sinclair and Paul Andrews who conceived the [[ZX Spectrum Vega]] games console. This was backed by members of the public on a crowd funding site raising over £150,000 in 2015, and delivered successfully to backers that same year. A second portable console, the [[ZX Spectrum Vega+]], was proposed, and crowd funded again, but two of the four founding directors (Paul Andrews and Chris Smith) left the company in April 2016 before the crowd funding finished. They left citing<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/chris-smith-and-paul-andrews-step-down-from-retro-computers/0168796|title=Chris Smith and Paul Andrews step down from Retro Computers|website=MCV |date=21 June 2016 |access-date=2016-07-28}}</ref> irreconcilable differences between them and the last remaining director Levy. Levy continued with the company installing two replacement directors, Suzanne Martin and Dr. Janko Mrsic-Flogel, both long term associates of Levy. The Vega+ console was originally intended to be delivered to backers in September 2016, but as of August 2017 the device remained unreleased amid claims of "infighting and legal battles". Despite condensed accounts being filed for the company at [[Companies House]] no information has been provided to identify the status of funds.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Titcomb|first1=James|title=Plan to revive Sinclair ZX Spectrum hit by legal turmoil|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/02/25/plan-revive-iconic-sinclair-zx-spectrum-hit-legal-turmoil/|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=25 February 2017|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=3 March 2017}}</ref> In September 2017 the company's bank statements were released showing that by 2017 all money raised via Indiegogo had been spent by RCL with no product to show for it,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Corfield |first1=Gareth |title=Indiegogo lawyer asks ZX Spectrum reboot firm: Where's the cash? |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/15/indiegogo_zx_spectrum_lawyer_refund_letter/ |website=The Register |access-date=28 June 2018}}</ref> but calls from the backers for Levy to explain why the company had previously told ''[[The Inquirer]]'' that the missing funds were "safe" and "ring-fenced" went unanswered.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2478567/zx-spectrum-vega-production-is-delayed-but-rcl-hopes-for-pre-christmas-rollout|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328114956/http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2478567/zx-spectrum-vega-production-is-delayed-but-rcl-hopes-for-pre-christmas-rollout|url-status=unfit|archive-date=28 March 2017|title=The Inquirer, 28th November 2016|date=2016-11-26|website=The Inquirer}}</ref> On 23 January 2019 a Petition to wind up the company was filed by Private Planet Limited, owned by Dr Mrsic-Flogel. Liquidators were appointed 4 April 2019 leaving backers empty-handed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3193686|title = RETRO COMPUTERS Ltd &#124; Petitions to Wind up (Companies) &#124; the Gazette}}</ref>