48
votes
Is it possible Alpha Zero will eventually solve chess?
No, it can't.
Even if you had it train on a zillion self-playing games and it miraculously achieved perfect play somehow, we would have no way of proving that it had achieved perfect play without ...
- 27.7k
40
votes
Accepted
Is chess a solved game?
Because of the observation you make, that the tree of possible game paths for chess is finite, chess is indeed solvable in exactly the same sense that tic-tac-toe is. So optimal strategies for chess ...
- 23.4k
39
votes
Accepted
Is there a mathematical theorem that you can use to win a chess endgame?
Unfortunately the (original) question was a bit ambiguous and arguably still is. I try to sort the different interpretations out:
Chess fulfils all requirements of "standard" game theory (...
- 15.4k
22
votes
What is the deepest Stockfish evaluation of the standard initial position that has ever been done?
In the chessbase cloud, this depth 79 evaluation is displayed:
Which means someone used Chessbase to get their Stockfish 12 engine to calculate to depth 79, and they had an internet connection at the ...
- 19.8k
20
votes
Is there a mathematical theorem that you can use to win a chess endgame?
Such a theorem doesn't exist.
The closest is the strategy-stealing argument that can be used to show that for many games, the second player does not have a winning strategy. The gist of the argument ...
- 26.1k
16
votes
What is the deepest Stockfish evaluation of the standard initial position that has ever been done?
Don't for one minute imagine that Stockfish has analysed all lines out to 30 plies (yes, that's plies, not moves). It has analysed some lines up to 30 plies, but most lines have been discarded well ...
- 905
14
votes
Is chess a solved game?
Chess hasn't been solved and it won't be in the next decades (barring ridiculous computing advancement involving quantum computing or such drastic changes).
You can calculate in your head for the ...
- 1,286
10
votes
Is the result in mini-chess known with perfect play?
The game is also known under the name pawns-only chess. There is a variation of this game called breakthrough that has more strategical depth by allowing the pawns to also move diagonally.
Since I ...
- 2,346
9
votes
Has loser chess been solved?
Professor Mark Watkins announced he had found the solution to Losing Chess in October 2016. Regardless of what Black plays, White can force a win beginning with 1. e3.
- 91
8
votes
Is chess a solved game?
Chess games may be finite but the number of possible games is beyond imagining.
There is no known sequence of moves that guarantees either side a win or draw.
- 19.9k
8
votes
Accepted
How to weakly solve Tiger Hunt, Atlantis Chess and Peasants' Revolt
Even without a computer one can prove that
"Tiger Hunt" (a.k.a. Maharajah Chess) is a forced win.
Certainly the "tiger" can't hope for more than a draw
if White starts with 1 Na3 and then repeats with ...
- 6,524
8
votes
Is it possible Alpha Zero will eventually solve chess?
Nope. AlphaZero's entire architecture (and the architectures of most other engines) is such that it cannot "find a solution", and in any case, if a solution was to be found it would be ...
- 1,858
6
votes
What is the solution to single-check chess?
If you trust Stockfish's evaluation on lichess.org, using the "three check" variant where both sides already have two checks, White wins in 5 moves with 1. e4, 1. e3, 1. Nc3, or 1. Na3, and ...
- 161
6
votes
Is it possible Alpha Zero will eventually solve chess?
No, it is impossible, even for Alpha Zero. Solving chess in a scientific sense means to prove the value of every possible move in every possible position. Without a mathematic model still to be found, ...
- 1,735
5
votes
Is it possible Alpha Zero will eventually solve chess?
Compressibility
When we talk about chess, we almost always talk about time, because for humans, that is the relevant variable. But when you talk about the space of all games, time suddenly shrinks ...
- 289
5
votes
What do you think will happen when chess gets solved?
Probably not much. As some top players have stated, we're close to the limit of what humans can memorize to prepare for a chess game. Preparation will become slightly more refined, but that will only ...
- 16.3k
5
votes
Accepted
About solving Atomic Chess
As a decently strong atomic player fairly connected with the atomic community including the strongest players, I feel I can answer this one. The short answer is: white probably wins, but there is no ...
- 4,980
5
votes
Is chess a solved game?
Another point is that the chess game is finite but only with the 75 move rule (the game is drawn if there are no captures or pawn moves for 75 moves). Before, this the rule with draw by consecutive ...
- 441
5
votes
Is chess a solved game?
In 1949 information scientist Shannon produced an estimate that it would take 10^90 years to solve chess with 1 MHz computer. Computer power and storage technology has improved considerably since then ...
4
votes
Is chess a solved game?
Here's an answer I originally wrote at https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/6563/what-is-the-computational-complexity-of-solving-chess/38102#38102.
A perfect chess player will always force a ...
- 410
4
votes
About solving Atomic Chess
I know there is at least some degree of theory in Atomic Chess, which indicates it hasn't been solved. Also from this Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_chess
Under the "...
- 19.8k
4
votes
Accepted
Is it computationally feasible to find a board with proven outcome, reachable in 2 plies?
I am assuming proving such a thing is impossible with today's technology, so I will give a close one.
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[StartPly "2"]...
- 1,898
4
votes
(Unbalanced) Double-Move chess - can white force a win?
We will prove that there exists a strategy for the white player that guarantees them a draw in the case of Double-Move chess.
Assume that such a strategy does not exist. This means that whatever move ...
- 141
3
votes
How big is the advantage for white in the "back-rank-game"?
Revised stockfish and added this goal to win the game.
Created 22 start opening mostly 2 plies others are 4 plies. Done carefully to minimize white advantage in the opening.
[Event "?"]
[...
- 3,885
3
votes
What is the solution to single-check chess?
[FEN ""]
1. Nc3 e6 (1...d5 2. Nb5 Kd7 3. Nf3) 2. Ne4 Ke7 3. d3 f6 (3... Nf6 4. Bg5) 4. Bg5 fxg5 5. Qd2 Nf6 6. Qxg5
And it's check next move. Very far from the quickest or the most elegant ...
- 3,762
3
votes
Can 5D chess be solved?
This link explores a way that white can force a draw. Perhaps this is game-breaking and makes the solution process much easier.
I am only an casual chess player and I’m mainly transcribing “5D Lexi”’s ...
- 231
3
votes
Is chess a solved game?
We know that an optimal strategy exists since when in a game there are a finite amount of players and a finite amount of strategies for each player, one can show that a Nash equilibra exists (so you ...
- 31
2
votes
Is chess a solved game?
no
we cannot say who should win or if it should be a draw
there are way too many move combinations to even try to compute the answer with current technology by trying all possible moves and seeing ...
- 161
2
votes
Is chess a solved game?
At the beginning of the 20th century, the belief that chess would be solved soon (called "the draw death of chess") was popular. The world champion J.-R. Capablanca tended to believe so. The games of ...
2
votes
Knight Moves Around the Board
Is this possible when the lone knight starts only on certain squares ?
If you stop and think about this for a second you will realize that the answer is obviously "Yes". If you have a "...
- 94.5k
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