@10703
I go with the number 10^38 positions without underpromotions to pieces not previously taken, but you can take the whole number of 10^44 legal positions if you want.
Can you at some stage decide which game you're trying to solve and what you mean by a position? You've just been talking about ICCF chess which includes the 50 move rule up to the point that a position is reached that can be adjudicated by a 7 man tablebase and also the triple repetition rule, so 10^44 is certainly not the whole number of positions in any sense in that game; 4.8x10^44 is our best estimate of the number of collections of those attributes of a position that are sufficient to determine forward play under basic rules chess.
You conceded that point already a few pages into the thread, but forgot to update your cut and paste file.
StOp SPAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What weird definition of spam do you use ?