Bhavya Gohil and Aatur Mehta have co-developed Square Off, where old world chess meets new-age AI. Pics/Sameer Markande

At an incubation centre in Marol, we stare intently at a chessboard placed in front of us. It's not that we are strategising our next license-to-kill move; it's just that we have heard that this chessboard is something of a legend. Over its two-year-long prototyping by Mumbai-based techies, Square Off - that's the chessboard - has earned the reputation of being the "smartest" of its kind in the world. It has been likened to the scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, where Ron selflessly orchestrates a win for Team Potter against gargantuan chess pieces that move on their own.