The Future of Chess engines

Will they ever peak or max out,

it's possible that they could max out on current hardware. Modern engines are incredibly advanced. I don't think we'll see a huge advancement in chess engines within the next 50 years

as somebody whose not a savvy programmer I dont really understand how an engine discerns a move in the 1st place.  Of course, I understand that the more power you have the more info- or possibles continuations- you can assimilate in a given period of time..but surely there's more to it than that. for instance, how to weed out nonsensical moves and thus assimilate critical moves 1st, etc.  But yes, it's very interesting to wonder about how much advancement is really possible.

I've often read as long as a century ago great masters have been predicting the games inevitable demise..and certainly that hasn't been the case. Maybe someone else a better understanding of engines could chime in.

No.

I think that the long-time fear that computers would "solve" chess and lead to its demise are proving to be very unfounded.

The reality is that chess is so complex that, even if it were indeed solved by some mega-powerful computer in the future, that solution would have very little impact on human vs. human play because we humans do not have computers for brains.

The real risk is players using computers to cheat in human play. Fortunately, this is pretty easy to detect and also to prevent. This may not always be the case in the future.

I believe that two of most sophisticated engines of the future would have AI and the games may or may not end in stalemate, but the AI of the future would most likely be human cyborgs.

imirak- I whole heartedly agree, and in fact I always say the same as you when ppl rant on about 'the end of the game' I always say, what the hell difference does it make anyway, as nobody is going to be able to assimilate all that information in the human brain anyway.  The argument is usually that the essence of the game would be robbed at the highest level and there wouldn't be much of a battle to care about. But even if that were to happen in some form, it would have no effect on me and 99+% who are not super GM world contender's with freakish photographic memories. Maybe this could theoretically hurt the games popularity if it is perceived that the mystery of the game has somehow been found or championed, but I think that's non-sense.  chess has never been a form of the super bowl for me anyway..but rather just another creative outlet in the form of a game I like to play.

 Way back in early 1990's it was predicted that the computers had already reached their full potential, just look at where they are today.

The full potential of computers and any technology will always improve.

In chess, someone some day will enter all of the games ever played by strong chess players, wins, draws and losses. A new database matrix will be built to evaluated all outcomes and with a new algorithm will not only make a suggestion how the game can be won in most cases with words explaining the theory such as we can watch on you tube by proficient chess players explaining games.