Isn't there that 50 move rule that keeps you from doing that?
If your state includes the number of moves since a capture or pawn movement, then chess can be represented as a directed graph with no cycles where each node represents the state of a game. It would contain terminal nodes which represent end game states (checkmate, stalemate, draws by repetition, and that 50 move thing). To solve chess you must determine for each node in the graph the best node to move to next (the best being the one that most quickly reaches the most favorable terminal node accessible from the current node). Of course the size of this graph is truly ludicrous. In order to solve it, we must create a computer that can go right to ludicrous speed since light speed is too slow.
exactly, in checkers you are forced to make captures and keep moving the checkers forward. In chess you could maneuver endlessly without captures.