Not exactly a household name, but as [IEEE Spectrum] points out, he invented a chess automaton in 1920 that would foreshadow the next century’s obsession with computers playing chess.

A lot of computers can play chess. [Matthew Lui’s] Giraffe is a chess playing computer, but unlike other common chess programs, Giraffe taught itself to play. It apparently learned pretty well ...

IBM's Deep Blue system achieved its first victory over a world chess champion on February 10, 1996, when it won the first game of a six-game match against Garry Kasparov. Despite this initial loss ...