On Jan 28, 9:17*pm, TrekNoid wrote:
On Jan 28, 12:22 pm, pialogue wrote:

*Would not a perfectly played game of chess NOT
result in a draw? *How else could it end? *The ONLY way that someone
"wins" is if a "mistake" was made, right? *Therefore, if someone wins
then that was NOT a "perfect" game played by both sides.

We don't know that. Chess could be a forced first player win since
white has a 1 move head start, it might be drawn with optimal play or
it might just possibly be a Zugswang where the first player to move
must lose.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugzwang

I disagree. You can't make that an assumption of a 'perfect' game,
because both side do not move at the same time. White moves first...

Which might or might not be an advantage. My instinct is that Chess is
either a first player win or a draw with perfect play - but we don't
have enough computational resources to find that perfect notional
game. And probably never will...

and White's goal is *not* to draw... it's to win. So for White to make
the 'perfect' move, Black would be lost from the first one.

Only if there exists a forced win for white against any defence by
black. The starting position of chess might be Zugswang in which case
having to make the first move would make it a loss for white.

Regards,
Martin Brown