Chess will never be solved, here's why

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    The generally accepted "end" of the ancient world is the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century. This shortly followed the establishment of Christianity as the official religion in the empire and the irruption of the Huns into Europe, resulting in a centuries-long shuffling of population throughout the continent and the obliteration of the knowledge and institutions that had existed for 1000+ years.

     The gradual growth of a new civilization really shifted into high gear in fourteenth-century Italy so William of Ockham was a figure from the end of medieval times. (The renaissance didn't reach England until after his death.) This really puts him at the the dawn of the modern era.

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Proof of concept solving one ECO code would take 4 months on a cloud engine.
Maybe it has already been done. Maybe Nepo and / or Caruana have solved the Petrov. Maybe Carlsen has solved the Sveshnikov and / or the Marshall. They have worked with cloud engines and their teams have prepared for months.

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tygxc wrote:

Proof of concept solving one ECO code would take 4 months on a cloud engine.
Maybe it has already been done. Maybe Nepo and / or Caruana have solved the Petrov. Maybe Carlsen has solved the Sveshnikov and / or the Marshall. They have worked with cloud engines and their teams have prepared for months.

Maybe every super GM has already solved chess for their favorite openings, and are all keeping it secret from the public, you know, for the massive tournament winnings...

Opening books:  flawed analysis

Engines:  flawed analysis

Tablebases:  perfect analysis

Using 1 and 2 to get to 3 proves nothing.

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December_TwentyNine wrote:

Hi Btickler.

I've heard of this "Occam's razor" before. Are you familiar with Redpill78?

Yeah.  It's complete garbage.

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Just keep playing for fun and be happy on Chess2Play.com and Chess.com

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Blackboyfly27 wrote:

Just keep playing for fun and be happy on Chess2Play.com and Chess.com

And we get to talk.  Too.  

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Okay - checking back after another 50 posts.  
@btickler is doing a good job of exposing the huge errors in 'hard guy's' posts.
Regarding posting about one's family and using that as a tactic in discussions - that reminds me of a 'protected' person who made a habit of posting family videos in forums that had nothing to do with same.
This exploited the inhibitions that many original posters have about blocking.
The 'family video' guy also conducted constant personal attacks - used the most explicit profanity constantly but continued to be 'protected'.
He was only club-banned because the person protecting him was muted site-wide.
Ironically - that most-protected person was only banned from the website (after years of offenses) after he was caught cheating at chess.  happy.png

Relevancy:  To discuss the subject - means of such discussion can be discussed. 

So far - at least four people here are both capable and willing to discuss the math involved.  Have been so demonstrating.
There's probably many others.  But they're not speaking up much.  

'Soft guy' mainly seems to want to push another website - little or no independent discussion from him.  
'Hard guy' doesn't want to admit he's math-deficient and will intensify his personalizations and projection.  (the most intense projection I've seen on the website.  Even projects his own projection.  happy.png)

But nonetheless - the discussion continues 'around' him and his deficiency in math and logic can be used as well.
To illustrate the actual points.
Elroch seemed to do a good job of that in a recent post.

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This for example may be a perfect game

 


There are many possible perfect games, all draws here
https://www.iccf.com/event?id=85042 

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Regarding two Kings plus one piece or pawn (but not both) ...
Those can be classified.
But whatever method of classification is significant to other solving.
Such positions with just three onboard could be classified into:
 
1) already checkmate
2) already stalemate
3) already 'dead' material draw (can only follow directly if the one piece is a knight or bishop) 
4) forced draw available with exact play by defending King
5) forced draw available with good enough play by defending King
(note those last two would apparently only happen with the other piece being a pawn)
6) forced win available with exact play by the King with a piece (has to be Queen or rook or pawn)
7) forced win available with good enough play by the King with one of the three good enough pieces.

So there's 7 classifications of positions with just one extra piece or pawn onboard.
In other words - a beginning of defining 'solved'.  
8th classification -  Not Solved.  (Yet).  Neither by computer nor by humans directly.

Not yet.  Nyet.
The entire task - if its put in terms of games instead of positions - would be increased by many magnitudes.   Needlessly.  Hopelessly.
To talk about 'solving' - how about some logical attempts at definition?
So far - at least four members have shown some willingness regarding same.   I'm sure many others on the website are capable of same. 
To attempt to do it or to actually do it. 
Or to support a valid definition and to develop the discussion from there.

Does the forum subject connect up with everyday chess ?
Sure it does.  Its part of an overview of the game. 
Putting things in perspective.  Works better from above the forest instead of choosing to be up against a tree.

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tygxc wrote:

This for example may be a perfect game

 


There are many possible perfect games, all draws here
https://www.iccf.com/event?id=85042 

Just because they are draws it does not mean they are "perfect" games. Give an engine an indeterminate (but enough) amount of time, it will surely find inaccuracies at least.

But I agree, there are probably millions of dead-draw positions with absolute 100% best play in each single move. 

Just like tic-tac-toe, which is also another game with a finite number of potential positions and which has been solved because it's too simple.

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#982
Of the 17 participants only 3 lost 1 or more games.
They play 3 days/move and can use data bases, engines, table bases.

Avatar of xor_eax_eax05

Still does not mean it's a "perfect" game. I dont think home computers have the processing capacity to solve games into perfect play from any given arbitrary position within a span of 3 days. 

Besides, any deviation from the "perfect" moves would no longer constitute a "perfect" game. 

Again, take tic-tac-toe, which has been solved (chess is the same as tic-tac-toe in terms of being a board game with a finite number of positions, and which will have an ending since we have a 50 move rule - no game can keep going on forever). Read this:

https://www.jesperjuul.net/ludologist/2003/12/28/255168-ways-of-playing-tic-tac-toe/

 

At one point it states

 

"If neither player makes a mistake, the game is drawn (but we knew that already)."

 

I would dare say any game of chess in which a player deviates at any point, from the best move, would end up with the other player winning *IF* only the best possible moves are played from then on till the end of the game.

 And those kind of games cannot be classified as "perfect" games, even if the other player also fails to play the best move at some point and the game still ends up in a draw. 

 They are flawed, in the sense that at least one of the moves in the game was not the best possible one.

 

 So just because they drew, does not mean it's a perfect game. I have had draws too, does that mean I played perfect chess well beyond top GMs and top engines? Nope.

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#984
This is probably also a perfect game
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2127155 

Avatar of xor_eax_eax05

 Do you understand the fact that in order to call a game a "perfect" game, first of all, chess would need to be solved, and AFTERWARDS, the ENTIRE game would have to match one of those combinations in which the best moved was played by both sides for absolutely each move in the game, and a draw had been reached? 

 I seriously doubt that match between Carlsen and Nepo is one of those examples of perfect games. 

 Again, I can get draws too by stepping into forced repetition, would that mean my opponent or I played the perfect game?

 Does that mean when Nakamura drew Magnus by repetition playing the bongcloud opening, they played a "perfect" game? 

 I dont think so.

 

 If we play tic tac toe, and I make a mistake, and then you make a mistake, and the game ends up in a draw - would that have been a perfect game? No. In order for you to know it's not a perfect tic tac toe game, you would need to solve it first, see all potential possible games, and compare it against those in which both players play the best move each time and then it ends up in a draw.

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#986
Both teams of Nepo and Carlsen have rented cloud engines during their months of preparation.
A game is perfect when it ends in a draw and when there is no improvement for white.

Avatar of xor_eax_eax05

 No, a perfect game is a game that ends up in a draw in which each player has played the best  100% possible move in each turn. And Im assuming when chess is solved the perfect games will always be a draw, just like in tic-tac-toe, due to both sharing the same nature in finitness of potential positions.

  With your definition, then I have played several perfect games in my life regardless of previous play, and maybe Carlsen and Nepo should be studying my "perfect" games, lol.

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#988
Did you ever draw a game where there was no improvement for white?

Avatar of xor_eax_eax05

 Yes of course I have drawn endgames in which any move other than one would cause me to step into a loss position (assuming best play from my opponent), and in which my opponent would also step into a loss position if he moved anything other than that one move (assuming best play from my side). Hardly "perfect" games. 

 I have also played games in which my opponent stepped into forced repetition, in which I would have stepped into a loss position had I not force-repeated into a draw. Opponent blundered capturing a piece of mine but allowed me to counter by forcing him into a draw.

 

 Again, Im saying that you can't judge a perfect game by how it ends, even if at some point "there is no improvement for white". We could play and blunder each move up to move 20 and then end up playing until we reach a position where "there is no improvement for white" and it would not be a perfect game anyway.