Can chess be solved?

My definition of solved is finding all the strongest moves for all the variations that arise after the starting position. To see what I think on this visit the forum titled: the best chess player possible. Please give your input, if you think it can be solved in the next 100 years, if it's not possible, etc. with an explanation.

Originally posted by bobbob1056th
My definition of solved is finding all the strongest moves for all the variations that arise after the starting position. To see what I think on this visit the forum titled: the best chess player possible. Please give your input, if you think it can be solved in the next 100 years, if it's not possible, etc. with an explanation.

Nope, there are too many possibilities:

Chess positions

A chess position is "uniquely realizable" if there is only one chess game that leads to the position in the specified number of plies.
Number of distinct chess positions uniquely realizable all
ply 0 1 1
ply 1 20 20
ply 2 400 400
ply 3 1862 5362
ply 4 9825 72078
ply 5 53516 822518
ply 6 311642 9417681
ply 7 2018993 96400068
ply 8 12150635 988187354
ply 9 69284509 9183421888

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~flab/chess/statistics-positions.html

So after 4 1/2 moves there are 9 billion possible positions!

I don't think you read what I had to say in the other forum mentioned above. Out of 9 billion positions, how many can actually result from reasonable moves (Grandmaster/perfect play)? I bet no more than 1,000. Of course computers analyze every variation, so the solution would be to have humans working in tandem with comoputers, letting them know what moves to analyze, or using advanced software to find better pruning (selection of canidate moves) techniques.

I'm afraid WoolyBuggerer is right. Take a hike, Bobble.

So after 1. a4 e5 2. a5 d5 3. a6 Nxa6 4. b4 Nxb4 5. Na3 for example, it's impossible to determine the correct result of the game because the position is far too complex? As well as the other some 9 billion positions that can result from the starting position? No, in fact as I said before there are probably no more than 1,000 playable positions which result from from the starting position after the first 4.5 moves.

My best advice is to get out of the house and stop playing with imaginary positions. Seriously.

It's possible to solve chess, but not with any equipment we have now, or anytime in the forseeable future. I say this because, there is a finite number of positions. There is just so many, that practically, it is impossible.

As I've said before, it's possible in theory. But it would require more time than the Universe could offer.

Originally posted by Bowmann
As I've said before, it's possible in theory. But it would require more time than the Universe could offer.

You boys don't seem to understand my basic argument. I don't consider I can make progress explaining something so simple, so this will probably be my last post on this subject. Cheers.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
You really think that? Even with computers which will get better and better over time?

Originally posted by bobbob1056th
You boys don't seem to understand my basic argument. I don't consider I can make progress explaining something so simple, so this will probably be my last post on this subject. Cheers.

Originally posted by Bowmann
Thank the Lord for that.