Chess

Whether you've just started playing chess or are a seasoned pro, it can be difficult finding people of your skill level to play against. GoChess allows you to do so online, via an actual physical chessboard with robotically moving pieces.

Three years ago Infivention launched Square Off, a robotic board that moves pieces on its own, allowing players to play against AI or people around the world. Now, two new models are launching – the updated, chess-focused Neo and the multi-game Swap.

A study from an international team of computer scientists set out to develop a new type of game-playing algorithm one that can play games that rely on traits like cooperation and compromise – and the researchers have found that machines can already deploy those characteristics better than humans.

Over the past 12 months, AI has beaten us at poker, Go, Pac-Man and Dota 2, marking 2017 as a milestone year in the evolution of artificial intelligence. It points towards a future where AI will essentially be able to do everything we can, but better.

Today, we can play chess against AI or humans anywhere, without the tactile pleasure of moving real pieces. Square Off is a physical chess board that moves pieces around itself, with an AI system or an online human player using an app or their own board.

What do human versus computer games like chess and go tell us about AI? Is the success of computers a harbinger of a machine-led future or are computers just very good at playing board games? To see how this could play out, we first need to look to the past.​

A new Kickstarter campaign hopes to bring London's landmarks to the game of kings. The 3D-printed Skyline Chess set features pieces styled after iconic buildings such as Big Ben and Canary Wharf.

The gorgeous Nixie tube chess set made by Tony Adams is now being made available as a limited number of self-build kits.

The pieces in Joseph Larson's 3D-printable chess set fit together into what he describes as "the ultimate chess fighting robot" - two of them, actually; with inverted knights for feet and bishops for hands.

Single-player Solitaire Chess teaches you the basics as well as the finer points of the traditional game.

Audi has revealed that an Autonomous TTS has completed the Pike’s Peak mountain course in 27 minutes. An expert driver in the same car would take 17 minutes. The race between computer and human has started, and we're long odds-on to LOSE!

The Chess Terminator draws a blitz match against former world champ Kramnik.