Understand chess's incomprehensible complexity
About this idea
Have your mind blown by this mathematical fact: there are more possible games of chess (10^120) than atoms in the observable universe (10^80). Even computers calculating billions of moves per second can't solve chess completely!
On this page
How to get started
STEP 1
the numbers (3 minutes)
- Possible chess games: 10^120 (Shannon number)
- Atoms in observable universe: ~10^80
- Stars in universe: ~10^24
- Seconds since Big Bang: ~10^18
- Chess games > universe atoms by factor of 10^40!
- Even with perfect play, chess hasn't been 'solved'
STEP 2
why SO many? (4 minutes)
- Each move creates branching possibilities
- Average position: ~35 legal moves
- Average game: ~40 moves per player (80 total)
- 35^80 = astronomical number
- But that's just average - some positions have 200+ moves!
- Tree of possibilities explodes exponentially
- Even checking 1 million positions per second would take longer than universe age
STEP 3
what computers can DO (3 minutes)
- Deep Blue (1997): Beat world champion Kasparov
- Stockfish (modern): Can calculate 70+ million positions per second
- Still can't solve chess completely
- Can only look ahead so many moves (depth limit)
- Best computers are rated ~3500 (humans peak ~2850)
- But perfect play? Still unknown
STEP 4
IMPLICATIONS (5 minutes)
- Shows limits of brute force computation
- Demonstrates exponential growth in complexity
- Explains why some problems are 'intractable'
- Chess is finite but practically infinite
- Go (19x19 board) is even more complex: 10^170 possible games!
- This is why AI uses heuristics, not just calculation
What you’ll need
- optional: chess board
Recommended resources
Tutorials & Learning
Progress milestones
Track your progress with these key achievements:
1
5 minutes
Understand the scale of chess complexity
2
10 minutes
Grasp why it can't be solved
3
15 minutes
Connect to computational limits
Common challenges
Every beginner faces obstacles. Here's how to overcome them:
Numbers too abstract
Solution: Think of it this way: If every atom in the universe was a supercomputer calculating chess moves, you'd still need 10,000 more universes to solve chess completely.
Share your progress
Celebrate your achievements and inspire others:
- • Blow someone's mind with this fact
- • Share why chess remains unsolved
- • Discuss computational complexity