Ha! HA! Oh I know this story!!! I love this story actually!!!

There is an actual Victorian-era steampunk story about a robotic chess player. No one can ever beat the robot, not even the world’s greatest chess players. It is revealed that the robot was actually the former chess champion who got discredited by rivals and donned the disguise so he can enact his revenge.

The fact that Girl Genius made a reference to it is spectacular.