Golden State appears every Monday and Thursday. You can reach Michael Hiltzik at [email protected] and read his previous columns at latimes.com/hiltzik ...

There was a time, not long ago, when computers—mere assemblages of silicon and wire and plastic that can fly planes, drive cars, translate languages, and keep failing hearts beating—could really, ...

It's almost 18 years since IBM's Deep Blue famously beat Garry Kasparov at chess, becoming the first computer to defeat a human world champion. Since then, as you can probably imagine, computers have ...

Computing, as a science and an industry, has always been intimately connected with games, and with none more so than chess. The quest to build a computer grandmaster has helped bring focus to ...