Luna nodded, “This is interesting, yes.” She was silent for a moment, focusing on her game, but started talking again, “We use Chess as a simulative test for computers, because it is a game we can understand, and can easily make a computer understand, but one we know has no single attainable solution. An Artificial Intelligence, one that you actually want to succeed, needs to be able to rethink its actions on the fly, to adapt constantly, because you cannot simply assume that whatever strategy you started it out with will make sense even a few days later… And it has to move cautiously too, calculating, avoiding making a move without understanding the consequences, and, if you are smart, asking for input from a human who can see the problems with commands like ‘make paperclips’ or ‘acquire currency’.” She narrowed her eyes, moving her rook back 3 spaces.

Twilight responded by moving her own rook forward 1.

Luna took a deep breath, studying the board, then made another move, taking another piece.

Twilight immediately took one of her last two pawns.

Luna moved her other pawn to the King row, swapping it out with the Queen she’d lost. “Check.”

Twilight moved her king.

Luna stopped for a few moments, the room in absolute silence as she studied the board.

“Twilight… Do I have checkmate in eight moves?”

Twilight giggled, “I dunno, you tell me? But if you do this wrong, it’s gonna be a stalemate…” she warned.

• If Luna moves to e8, Twilight can reply with Re5. From there, the only options for Luna are Kf7 and Kf8, both of which lead to a quick forced checkmate. Not good.  
• If Luna moves back to f7, Twilight can respond with Qd7. Luna’s king is forced to move to f8, and Twilight checkmates with Ng6. Also not good.  
• If Luna moves to g7, Twilight checks with Nf5. Luna’s king must move to f7, and Twilight checks again with Qd7. Luna’s only option then is Kf8, to which Twilight responds with Qg7, and it’s only a few moves from there to checkmate.
   
  Yep, Twilight has won this.