Transcript:
Elon: The actual number of moves that are not utterly stupid in chess is tiny and chess will be fully solved one day
Chess.com: Skill issue
Elon: Chess is hard for humans, but not for computers. One day, it will be fully solved like checkers. Between now and then, or even after, have fun. People enjoy may games/sports where machines are vastly better.
Chess.com: There are more possible chess games, by about 40 order of magnitude, than atoms in the observable universe. To solve chess, you’d have to map them all. Good luck.
Elon: Wrong, all legal chess positions are ~40 ooms less than the estimated atoms in the Universe. And ASI will figure out ways to solve and compress that are far beyond what we could possibly comprehend. (Here I am arguing with some random intern at a chess website)
Chess.com: I’m a full-time employee
Elon: (something-emoji)
Chess.com: Even my friends don’t text me back that fast
What does it mean to “solve” chess? And what does he mean checkers is “solved”? Shirley, he can’t still be mad that he’s bad at chess, no? (Yes, yes he can)
Solving a game means that the way to win/draw it is 100% known
Checkers is weakly solved because if the first person makes a certain move and no matter what the other player does the player going first knows the next move to draw.
Tic-tac-toe is a completely solved game. If you go first and put it in the middle the second player has to go into a corner or lose. If they put it in a corner then the first player goes in a corner and it’s a draw.
Chess could be weakly solved even though there are so many combinations of possible moves.
Like say like a weird strategy existed where black cannot stop white from simply marching all their pawns to the other side of the board with protection and eventually smothers the king.
If just one unstoppable line in chess existed it would be weakly solved
Solved means that the best move is known for all positions. “Best move” meaning the move that leads to the highest chance of victory vs an opponent that also always plays the best move.
For example, “three in a row” is solved. You literally cannot lose.
… if you start and know what to do. It is perfectly possible to lose for either player. Unless maybe if both players want to lose?
Of coures it is meant “logically”. If you don’t know what to do not even a rubic’s cube is solved.
If you do not start, you draw btw. :)
What I meant is that you can play the game perfectly fine without having solved it. I know because I play once every two decades or so and always lose because forgot the solution.