The longest possible chess game

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  • The longest possible chess game

    For the curious, I've mentioned at least one time on chesstalk that I once read in a book I owned long ago that the longest possible chess game was calculated to be over 5,000 moves... indeed, it turns out that the figure appears to be over 5,850 moves(!):

    http://www.chess.com/blog/kurtgodden...ble-chess-game
    Last edited by Kevin Pacey; Monday, 2nd March, 2015, 07:03 PM.
    Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
    Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer

  • #2
    Re: The longest possible chess game

    With a 2h SD time control, each move would have to be played within a little more than a second!

    With 1h + 30 sec. increment, the game could go on for more than 4 days.

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    • #3
      Re: The longest possible chess game

      Originally posted by Mathieu Cloutier View Post
      With a 2h SD time control, each move would have to be played within a little more than a second!

      With 1h + 30 sec. increment, the game could go on for more than 4 days.
      There might also be possible problems with entering one or more games of any such length in databases.
      Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
      Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer

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      • #4
        Re: The longest possible chess game

        Is the 50-move rule automatic, or does one of the players have to declare it? If the players must declare then any chess game is theoretically infinite. I would also add that all one need do is look back to some of the older Informants for Hubner annotations to see far more moves than a paltry 5850.

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        • #5
          Re: The longest possible chess game

          Originally posted by Brad Thomson View Post
          Is the 50-move rule automatic, or does one of the players have to declare it? If the players must declare then any chess game is theoretically infinite. I would also add that all one need do is look back to some of the older Informants for Hubner annotations to see far more moves than a paltry 5850.
          There is a new rule this last year that the game IS drawn after 75 moves (without a capture or pawn move). Between 50 & 75 moves, one of the players has to claim it. [There is a similar rule change for repetition, I think at 5 repeats, the game IS drawn, can claim at 3...]

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          • #6
            Re: The longest possible chess game

            Originally posted by Roger Patterson View Post
            There is a new rule this last year that the game IS drawn after 75 moves (without a capture or pawn move). Between 50 & 75 moves, one of the players has to claim it. [There is a similar rule change for repetition, I think at 5 repeats, the game IS drawn, can claim at 3...]

            I'm assuming you mean this is a new FIDE rule?

            Would this mean that for a weekend Swiss being FIDE rated, if there were to be a 150-move game with a lot of shuffling back and forth of a few pieces and with a non-draw result, the TD would have to (before doing the pairings for the next round) play through the game checking for 75-move rule or 5-time repeats, and changing the game result if either were found?
            Only the rushing is heard...
            Onward flies the bird.

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            • #7
              Re: The longest possible chess game

              Originally posted by Paul Bonham View Post
              Would this mean that for a weekend Swiss being FIDE rated, if there were to be a 150-move game with a lot of shuffling back and forth of a few pieces and with a non-draw result, the TD would have to (before doing the pairings for the next round) play through the game checking for 75-move rule or 5-time repeats, and changing the game result if either were found?
              The TA would declare a result of the game as draw, if he has a good memory to notice the same position >= 5x. A 75-moves rule is simple to track (players are required to write down the moves when a time control is with an increment, or a TA writes down moves otherwise when <5mins are left). Though it is done during the game, not after, because "12.1 The arbiter shall see that the Laws of Chess are strictly observed."

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