I was just going over the famous endgame, Spielmann-Rubinstein.
Saveilly Tartakover wrote, "Rubinstein is a rook ending of a chess game that was started by God a thousand years ago." (Analysis by Dvoretsky, in Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual.)
After the game, Spielmann exclaimed, "Akiba, if you lived in the Middle Ages you would have been burned at the stake! What you do in rook endgames can only be called witchcraft!"
Since the total number of possible chess games is finite, assigning an infinite rating to anyone, even God, would be illogical.
Of course you could play against God, but you couldn't win unless the deity let you win one.
Is there an absolute rating limit? That is a question for a mathematician based upon the formula used to compute ratings. On a practical level, I'm guessing it can't be much higher than the best computer rating + 400 points.
In the movie "The Seventh Seal", the hero, played by Max von Sydow, plays chess with Death. He stretches the game out a bit, but ultimately he loses and dies. Nobody beats Death. And you can't get a draw either.
Of course you could play against God, but you couldn't win unless the deity let you win one.
Is there an absolute rating limit? That is a question for a mathematician based upon the formula used to compute ratings. On a practical level, I'm guessing it can't be much higher than the best computer rating + 400 points.
In the movie "The Seventh Seal", the hero, played by Max von Sydow, plays chess with Death. He stretches the game out a bit, but ultimately he loses and dies. Nobody beats Death. And you can't get a draw either.
And I was gonna watch the movie too. Thanks for spoiling it for me,lol.
"Omniscient" means "knowing everything". That would include how to win chess games. So you would be beaten, but in answer to your question, of course you can "play"!
If God, or Chuck Norris played chess would their ratings be infinite? Can you play chess against them? Is there a Newcombe version of chess?
Thanks and GL mate, with your games.