naure.com
ScienceSurprise 5/5Difficulty 3/5Reviewed on November 16, 2024

There are more possible iterations of a game of chess than atoms in the universe.

Why it is true

After just 4 moves by each player, there are 288 billion different possible positions on the board.

Source: Mathematics

Would you rather be asked first?

This is the reading side of the site, so the answer is in the sentence above — that is the whole point of it. Test yourself works the other way round: the question comes on its own, and the fact and the explanation only appear once you have answered.

Test yourself →10-question challenge

Related facts

More in Science

See all →