I see in books on cosmology (referring to the universe, not hairdos, although it's really the same word--why?) that the game of chess has more possible moves than the number of atoms in the universe.

   Who counts them? Is that the "known universe", "our" universe. Does anyone believe this? And if so, why do I keep losing in the same ways I've often done before?  Shouldn't I be able to find a way to lose that no one has ever dreamed of?? And what about those "black holes", into one of which I see my speed chess rating disappearing rapidly....

Hahah, i thought that, its the same as when they say, not every snow flake is the same, how do they know, have they checked every snowflake since snowflakes began. lol

Science is just full of holes, and we just believe them coz they are scientist, and we never question em, but i think so many things they have discovered could be wrong.

Matthew

Approximating the mass of the universe comes from knowing the size, which is estimated by something called the cosmic microwave background. Knowing the number of chess games possible comes from combinatorics. My background is a bachelors of science in physics btw. If you've never heard of the cosmic microwave background, you should read about it as it is VERY interesting. Happy hunting.

It's true.  The estimate of the number of atoms (based on observations) in the universe would have to be very very wrong to equal the number of possible chess games.  If we estimate the number of atoms at 1x10^79, and we only counted half of them, then the real number is still only ~10^79.  We have to be out by a factor of 10 just to get up to 10^80, a factor of 100 to get up to 10^81 etc.  With the number of chess games at ~10^123 it would be an absolute catastrophe if we had missed enough atoms to reach this number.  We would need 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 times as many atoms.

   Thanks, Dallas (and Brit). "Combinatorics"? "Physics btw"? I know something about a "BMW", but why do I so favor "quotation marks"? 

   Yes, there is not only "dark matter" to assess, but now... (drum roll) "dark energy"! With all those possibilities, I perhaps will find some WINNING ones. Keep 'em coming fellows!

not really much to add, not my field, but I think it is good that there are so many combinations in chess as it means that even the very best can get caught out by a relative amateur every so often.  To see a grandmaster's face after he has miscalculated a very long connbitnation, is what makes the game for me.  Not that it happens that often but it does happen.

The number of legal positions in chess is estimated to be between 10⁴³ and 10⁵⁰, with a game-tree complexity of approximately 10¹²³. The game-tree complexity of chess was first calculated by Claude Shannon as 10¹²⁰, a number known as the Shannon number.^[64] Typically an average position has thirty to forty possible moves, but there may be as few as zero (in the case of checkmate or stalemate) or as many as 218.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess#Mathematics_and_computers

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070803014221AAfMjgV

It only seems big to us, the universe and everything in it sits quite comfortably in Gods living room, in the corner, next to the aquarium.   

With a Ph.D. in physics, I can only add that Callpawn's rapidly disappearing speed chess rating probably has to do with his retirement. This remark is inspired by my father, who thinks significantly slower (but not really worse) since he retired.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML_yKt_SzvI