How many possible chess games are there?
Gaming brutal Data from 1950
Guess before you scroll — the answer is below
The answer
10¹²⁰ games
The Shannon number estimates around 10^120 possible chess games — vastly more than the roughly 10^80 atoms in the observable universe. Chess cannot be brute-forced; it has to be played.
Where this number comes from
| Source | Shannon number, Claude Shannon, Philosophical Magazine |
|---|---|
| Figure refers to | 1950 |
| Last checked | |
| Unit | games |
Numbers move. If this one has drifted from its source, let us know.
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