Author: José Carlos
Date: 03:56:23 01/19/05
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On January 18, 2005 at 18:29:46, chandler yergin wrote: >with this guy in 1998... > > >I'll take his answer over yours any day! As has been pointed out, there's a big difference between opinions and proofs. My opinion is also that chess can't be solved, but I have no proof. Nobody has. >"CHESS CANNOT BE SOLVED BY COMPUTERS!" Chess is well defined, but define "computer". If computer means today's computers, it can be proven that, for a search time t, chess can't be solved by today's computers in that time. >He's a Chess Player too.. > >Wanna Disagree? Sure, I love disagreeng. To prove chess can't be solved you either need: a. to provide a mathematical demonstration. b. to refute every attemp. Since "b" is not possible because tomorrow someone could come up with a new attemp, only "a" can prove it, and your friend doesn't provide a mathematical proof, but an opinion. Here are other opinions that can't be refuted: "God doesn't exist", "Cats can't do abstract reasoning", "Dolphins would play chess if only they had hands". Now, to the topic: the search graph for chess is inmense. I can't think of a way to fully explore it. But in mathematics and other formal sciences, complex demonstrations use simple theorems. Suppose the next theorems could be proven for chess: 1. for every position with a material advantage bigger than a queen, if I can give a check, I can't be mated. 2. for every position without queens and pawns, equal material is always a draw. These are of course stupid theorems which are clearly false, but they illustrate the idea. Every simple theorem we could demonstrate, would mean a drastric reduction in the search graph, and would also allow to create new and more complex theorems. Today, we don't know such theorems, but who can say with 100% certainity that they won't be discovered in the future? José C.
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