Possible games
10?
depends on the position. At the start, there are 20
If you mean the number of games possible, then the answer is that we can't compute exactly, but we can estimate, although estimations can vary significantly. For example, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_number.
As an Internet user who has been trained in the art of recognizing vague questions with unclear meaning, this is a vague question with unclear meaning. Here are a few possible answers (mostly inexact lest I fall into a trap of wasting my time), ordered by how well they align with the question in my opinion:
If "move" means the concept of a piece going somewhere:
- The question asks how many moves are inherent to the game of chess itself, which is zero.
- The question asks how many moves exist given all unique positions with all the moves possible in each position, which is probably some ridiculous number with hundreds of digits.
- The question asks how many unique move notations exist, which is probably somewhere in the hundreds.
- The question asks how many unique ways one type of piece can move from one square to another square, which is probably within an order of magnitude of 10,000.
If "move" means two turns taken in tandem:
- The question asks how many moves there are in a game of chess, to which the answer is that it varies. However, if you wanted to supply a number here, you could say 3.5, in reference to all of those games that end in Scholar's Mate.
- The question asks how many moves exist in the longest possible game of chess, which is 8,848.5.
If "move" means ply: (Multiply answers from previous section by 2.)
So it turns out that I did end up wasting some time anyway. But not a lot, at least.
If "move" means the concept of a piece going somewhere:
- The question asks how many moves are inherent to the game of chess itself, which is zero.
- The question asks how many moves exist given all unique positions with all the moves possible in each position, which is probably some ridiculous number with hundreds of digits.
- The question asks how many unique move notations exist, which is probably somewhere in the hundreds.
- The question asks how many unique ways one type of piece can move from one square to another square, which is probably within an order of magnitude of 10,000.
If "move" means two turns taken in tandem:
- The question asks how many moves there are in a game of chess, to which the answer is that it varies. However, if you wanted to supply a number here, you could say 3.5, in reference to all of those games that end in Scholar's Mate.
- The question asks how many moves exist in the longest possible game of chess, which is 8,848.5.
If "move" means ply: (Multiply answers from previous section by 2.)
So it turns out that I did end up wasting some time anyway. But not a lot, at least.
ask @ infinite2009
@ISaveChesspapers said in #5:
> - The question asks how many moves exist given all unique positions with all the moves possible in each position, which is probably some ridiculous number with hundreds of digits.
Did I say hundreds? Sorry, I meant a whole frickin' lot more: wismuth.com/chess/longest-game.html
> - The question asks how many moves exist given all unique positions with all the moves possible in each position, which is probably some ridiculous number with hundreds of digits.
Did I say hundreds? Sorry, I meant a whole frickin' lot more: wismuth.com/chess/longest-game.html
I think depending on game and players
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