More than a decade has passed since IBM s Deep Blue computer stunned the world by defeating Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion at that time. Following Deep Blue s retirement, there has been a succession of better and better chess playing computers, or chess engines, and today there is little question that the world s best engines are stronger at the game than the world s best human players.

Beyond Deep Blue: Chess in the Stratosphere tells the continuing story of the chess engine and its steady improvement from its victory over Garry Kasparov to ever-greater...