How many distinct chess games are possible, and which is the longest?

#98 #99 #100 are not comparable to

"there isn't a way to do it in less that 14 moves"

rather they are comparable to

"there cannot be more than 9 white queens"

~~

Only in the sense that one is true and the other is false. If posited as true, the would both still need justification(granted, the justification for the second statement is rather obvious so can usually be left out)

If you say "there cannot be more than 9 white queens" and I say "why?" you can easily say "oh because theres only one queen originally, and you can only get more from pawns, and there are only 8 pawns, so even if all pawns turned into queens, you would still only have 9, and there are no other legal ways to get more queens"

If you say "this position isn't legal", and I say "why?", you should be able to provide some justification for it, otherwise I have no way of seeing the validity of your statement.

Kilo, or another way of seeing why justification is required here, how about this position? legal or no? if you just say "yes it's legal" is that a sufficent answer?

@109

i want you to reveal the cause yourself, as you did for 9 queens.

start strom in your brain. its a lot fun in brain-storming.

(even if it  explodes!!)

An easy counting argument will show that files a, b, g, and h cannot have septupled pawns since more than 15 captures are required to move all the pawns into those positions.

To see this, it will be easier to use number rather than letters to label the files, so call file a file 1, file b file 2, all the way to file h file 8. Observe that to move a pawn over one file, one capture is necessary. So, to move a pawn from file x to file y takes |y-x| captures, let us call this number the "distance" from file x to file y. With this in hand, let us consider file 2. There are two files of distance one from file 2, and then one of distances 2 through 6. so, a lower-bound for the number of captures to move seven pawns onto file 2, is the sum of distances for the seven closest files. the seven closest files are files 1-7, and the sum of the distances is 16. So at least 16 captures are necessary to get seven pawns onto file 2, but only 15 captures are possible since there are only 15 expendible pieces per side, so there is no possible legal way to get seven pawns onto the b file. A mirrored argument will show it for the g file, and the sum of the seven smallest distances from the a and h files is greater than the sum of the seven smallest distances from the b and g files, so if theres no possible way to do it for the b and g files, theres no possible way to do it for the a and h files.
   Q.E.D.

 A more interesting problem though is if you can have sextupled pawns on the a file(a similar counting argument is insufficent since it would take 15 captures and there are 15 expendible pieces)

And can the position be reached in 34 moves including seven consecutive black captures with the ending position as a mate in 8?

Lol, very funny TBentley. If you are trying to figure out my proposed problem, here's a hint: answering my problem is sufficient for answering yours.

sextupled on a file is possible

Kilo, can you show me a game that position came from? I don't know if I believe you without one. If it's legal, you should be able to get there in a legal game.  

Here's a link to what I was referring to: http://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess2/kuwait.htm

Ahh, so I see that question has already been asked before. I wonder about this move though, could it exist in a real game?

do you mean games like OTB or chess.com rated games?

like a game technically legal under USCF rules. 

Intentional losing\prefixed game is illegal

Kilo,

I'm trying to ask legitimite questions to spark interesting chess-centered discussion, is such a smart remark really necessary? I'm sure you understand what I am asking, and how your answer does nothing to answer the question.

But, to answer a smart remark with a smart remark, Your answer is invalid because if the position can be reached with a legal set of moves, you could theoretically have two complete idiots playing who only know how the pieces move, but don't understand the game making random moves reach this position by shear accident without either side intentionally losing or having prefixed the game.

Well all theories and mathematical equations involving atoms in the universe that are smaller than all chess combinations.

I must say that I simply that I disagree.

Did anyone start counting all of the sand beach grains on this planet? I bet you that all of the sand grains on earth exceed by far not only mathematical chess combinations but also exceed the universe atoms, just an opinion.

Ohh yes Rickett, you must be right.

Grenade!! Everybody evacuate plonk thread now busters!

Sextupled pawns on a-file and 0-0 legal? Yes it is possible. Notice black can promote thrice on g1 with fxg and hxg, and legality immediately follows. Proof by construction is possible but tedious.

> "Sextupled pawns on a-file and 0-0 legal? Yes it is possible. Notice black can promote thrice on g1 with fxg and hxg, and legality immediately follows. Proof by construction is possible but tedious."