What's believed to be the world's oldest board game is still played today. Go, the Chinese strategy game where two players compete in a territory battle is the focus of a special conference underway in an east China city. The China Go Congress includes 31 chess games and performances. Artificial intelligence is helping to write the next chapter of this time-honored game. 

Go players fight in full swing. At the Chinese Go Congress in Rizhao, Shandong Province, a Go robot is the one to beat, in a much attracting competition. The robot plays at more than 40 difficulty levels. 

No matter a beginner or an expert, anyone can challenge the machine.

"Go technology arose suddenly and became a window for artificial intelligence to really enter human life. The China Go Association has started building a unified intelligent service management platform for the Go industry, applying the development of artificial intelligence in the game of Go," Lin Jianchao, the chair of the Chinese Go Association, told CGTN.

The game pits two players against each other in a territorial battle. Using white and black stones and a 361-dot-board, the aim is to surround the opponent's stones, capture theirs and ultimately occupy more territory on the board. The game ends when neither player wishes to make any more move. 

Lin also said Go has gone through a variety of forms as it developed over the past 4,000 years. But no one could have expected the role that artificial intelligence would come to play. 

As an important part of Chinese Go culture, the Quzhou Lanke Go Academy was founded at this year's Go conference. The academy proposes taking Go abroad to show the game to the world. They also plan to build an AI Go industrial park in Quzhou, a city in east China's Zhejiang Province.

"We signed onto this industrial park project with a group of leading Go enterprises and AI groups. We hope Go can be combined with current AI technologies to launch Go training, education, industrialization, and Go internationalization," said Xu Lishui, an official from Quzhou's Kecheng District. "Chinese Go culture, a culture of harmony and friendship, will bring China and the world together."