Not too long ago, chess-playing computers—the supervillain of many a human grandmaster—were as intimidating physically as they were virtually: bulky, sturdy, sleek, jet-black monoliths in miniature, ...

For years, the game of chess has been seen as a litmus test for how far AI can go against the human intellect. When IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer beat reigning Chess world champion Garry Kasparov in ...