Elon Musk clashes with Chess.com online over whether AI will 'solve' chess

Elon Musk was in an online argument this week, which is not new but this time, it wasn't with a rival CEO or a world leader, but with the website Chess.com.

On Thursday, Musk wrote that the number of chess moves that aren't "utterly stupid" is small and that "chess will be fully solved one day."

Chess.com's official account responded by calling the prediction a "skill issue." Musk replied that chess was hard for humans but not for computers.



"Chess is hard for humans, but not for computers. One day, it will be fully solved like checkers. Between now and then, or even after, have fun. People enjoy many games/sports where machines are vastly better," Musk responded on X.

In respone, Chess.com raised a mathematical point, saying there are more possible chess games, by roughly 40 orders of magnitude, than atoms in the observable universe, and that solving chess would require mapping every one of them. "Good luck," the account wrote.

Musk pushed back. "Wrong, all legal chess positions are ~40 oom less than the estimated atoms in the Universe. And ASI will figure out ways to solve and compress that are far beyond what we could possibly comprehend."

This started a conversation online. Users said both figures are technically correct and the disagreement comes down to language. Chess.com was referring to possible chess "games," while Musk was referring to legal chess "positions".

The exchange took a personal turn when Chess.com corrected Musk on the identity of the person running its account, Musk joked, "Here I am arguing with some random intern at a chess website." And Chess.com corrected him, saying, "I am a full-time employee."

According to media reports, a Chess.com spokesperson said later that losing a Twitter fight to a so-called intern must be especially frustrating for the billionaire.

The feud quickly went viral, with many social media users siding with Chess.com.