How Many Games of Chess?

[Peter Wayner]

>  >This is tangentially related to crypto.  I've been reading A.K. Dewdney's
>  >_The New Turning Omnibus_ recently to refresh my memory of all that stuff
>  >I learned in undergrad that I'm going to see again on the Comp Sci GRE
>  >shortly. :-)  Anyway, I was glancing through the chapters on complexity,
>  >computabilty, and minimax trees, and I got to wondering something:  how
>  >many possible games of chess are there?  I know that it has to be a finite
>  >number, but I'm not sure how to go about finding this number.  Any
>  >pointers would be appreciated.
>
>First, I think there are a finite number of games only if all stale-mates
>are are required to terminate.

There is that curious rule that ends a game when the same board position
occurs three times in the course of the game. I wonder if there were
any real cool endgames where the underdog was able to manipulate the
overdog into repeating the position three times? 


Peter Wayner * 4129 Roland Ave. #1B, Baltimore, MD 21211-2038
410-366-1452