# How many possible games in Go (Wei Ch'i)? Chess? (Math)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-possible-games-in-go-wei-chi-chess-math/118576>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 12, 2002, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-possible-games-in-go-wei-chi-chess-math/118576 "2002-07-12T06:02:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-possible-games-in-go-wei-chi-chess-math/118576/21 "2002-07-13T02:58:56Z")

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I forgot to mention the Rule of Ko. A game can have more than one Ko position and thus there’s yet another continuous loop in the counting of possible positions.

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**Author:** ![barking\_frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@barking\_frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barking_frog)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-possible-games-in-go-wei-chi-chess-math/118576/22 "2002-07-27T05:41:06Z")

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Bump :D.

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**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-possible-games-in-go-wei-chi-chess-math/118576/23 "2002-07-27T13:59:02Z")

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Ko’s ususally are consisted of two configurations, one for white (after capturing black) and one for black (after capturing white).

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**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-possible-games-in-go-wei-chi-chess-math/118576/24 "2002-07-27T14:00:42Z")

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That would be the very definition of it, UR.

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**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-possible-games-in-go-wei-chi-chess-math/118576/25 "2002-07-27T14:03:18Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by panamajack \*  
> Though there are probably far more “not trying to win” games than in Chess, I would think the number of “useful” games to be a much smaller percentage of the total than with Chess.

I am not sure what you are getting at. There are more possible games in Shogi than in Chess [a. bigger board b. more pieces c. pieces are not out of the game].

What do you mean by “useful?”

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**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-possible-games-in-go-wei-chi-chess-math/118576/26 "2002-07-27T14:11:56Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by panamajack \*  
> Though there are probably far more “not trying to win” games than in Chess, I would think the number of “useful” games to be a much smaller percentage of the total than with Chess.

I am not sure what you are getting at. There are more possible games in Shogi than in Chess [a. bigger board b. more pieces c. pieces are not out of the game].

What do you mean by “useful?”

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