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Isn't the very first move of any chess game a reachable chess position with more than 218 moves?
by reader9274 1y ago
Isn't the very first move of any chess game a reachable chess position with more than 218 moves?
- reed1234 1y agoIt’s not 218 possibilities it’s 218 moves.
- electroly 1y agoMaybe one of us is misunderstanding, but aren't there far fewer than 218 on the first move? The position in the article needed nine unobstructed queens to achieve 218 possible moves. For the first move, I think we could just enumerate the moves by hand, right? Eight pawns can move one or two spaces, that's 16 moves. The two knights have two moves, that's 4. Nothing else can move, can it? That's only 20 moves. EDIT: I think I understand the confusion. A "move" in this case is a legal possibility for white's next turn. It's not talking about the number of moves in the game, but rather the number of legal choices for white in a single turn.
- Tobs40 1y agoAuthor here! You are correct! It's White to move and White has 218 moves to choose from as their next move. My article proves that you can't do better than 218.
- clintonc 1y agoThe initial board position is certainly reachable (and reached in every game!), but there are only 20 legal moves available: the 16 legal pawn moves for White, and the 4 legal knight moves for White.
- ted_dunning 1y agoIndeed. And 20 < 218. So your agree with the article so far.
- renewiltord 1y agoWhen you use small context LLM, you get completion like this.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- jibal 1y agoNo, there are only 20 moves in the initial position.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]