Archive · 5 Sep 2026
Elon Musk Revives Chess.com Feud Over Chess’s Future
Elon Musk argued online that computers may someday solve chess completely.
He compared this possibility with checkers, which was weakly solved in 2007.
Chess.com replied with a short joke saying the issue was a skill problem.
The two sides then debated how complicated chess really is.
Chess.com talked about the huge number of possible games.
Musk talked about the smaller number of legal positions and said advanced AI could compress the problem.
The argument also became personal when Musk called an account manager an intern.
Chess.com said the manager was actually a full-time employee.
Elon Musk argued that chess may eventually be completely solved, like checkers.
Chess.com responded that Musk’s position reflected a “skill issue,” reigniting a dispute from 2022.
The website cited roughly 10^120 possible chess games, while Musk focused on about 4.6 × 10^44 legal positions.
Both figures are described as accurate because they measure different things: games versus positions.
Musk called the account administrator an intern, but Chess.com said the person was a full-time employee.
- Who
- Elon Musk, Chess.com, its social media administrator, and executive Daniel Rensch.
- What
- Musk and Chess.com argued over chess’s complexity, whether it can be solved, and Musk’s chess abilities.
- When
- The latest exchange began on September 3 and lasted roughly 24 hours; an earlier dispute occurred in December 2022.
- Where
- On social media, in messages involving the Chess.com account.
- Why
- Musk argued that chess could eventually be solved by advanced AI, while Chess.com challenged his claims and comments about the game.
Musk’s View
Chess.com’s View
Can chess be solved?
Musk’s View
Musk said chess will eventually be completely solved, as checkers was, and that advanced AI could find ways to compress the problem.
Chess.com’s View
Chess.com emphasized the enormous number of possible chess games and noted that no proof currently establishes whether perfect chess leads to a White win, Black win, or draw.
How chess complexity should be measured
Musk’s View
Musk focused on the roughly 4.6 × 10^44 legal positions and argued that comparisons with the atoms in the observable universe were misleading.
Chess.com’s View
Chess.com referred to approximately 10^120 possible games, which is about 40 orders of magnitude more than the number of atoms in the observable universe.
Musk’s chess reputation
Musk’s View
Musk has described chess as too simple for real life and cited features absent from the game, including fog of war, technology trees, and random spawn points.
Chess.com’s View
Chess.com has highlighted chess rules and features such as castling, en passant, pawn promotion, and the knight’s eight possible destination squares.
- Latest dispute
- Began September 3 and continued for roughly 24 hours.
- Checkers
- Weakly solved in 2007, with perfect play by both sides shown to produce a draw.
- Possible chess games
- Approximately 10^120, a figure known as the Shannon number.
- Legal chess positions
- Approximately 4.6 × 10^44.
- Earlier feud
- Chess.com published a rebuttal to Musk’s comments in December 2022.
- Musk’s claim
- He said chess will someday be completely solved, potentially by artificial superintelligence.