The Shannon number is an estimation of the game-tree complexity of Chess. It was first calculated by Claude Shannon, the father of information theory. According to him, on average, 40 moves are played in a chess game and each player chooses one move among 30 (but in fact, there may be as few as zero -in the case of checkmate or stalemate- or as many as 218). Therefore, (30×30)⁴⁰, i.e. 900⁴⁰ chess games are possible. This number is about 10¹¹⁸, or a billion billion googol, as the solution of the equation 900⁴⁰sup. = 10x is x = 40log₁₀⁹⁰⁰.

The game-tree complexity of chess is now evaluated at approximately 10¹²³ (the number of legal positions in the game of chess is estimated to be between 10⁴³ and 10⁵⁰). As a comparison, the number of atoms in the Universe, to which it is often compared, is estimated to be between 4×10⁷⁸ and 6×10⁷⁹.(ref Wikepedia.)

Great games here...Send your PGNs with comments. Note: I have used a PGN just to ensure the PGN player is working.... Please send your games!

Thank you to Dave Wightman for kindly forwarding his Rock Cup Round 1 rematch game with annotations. This is Dave's 2nd contribution to the games section. Colin Haughton's excellent contribution of his game 22 Feb 2007 and also to Peter Broomhall for sending his excellent County match 14 move win of 26 Jan 2008 played against Worcestershire. Also thank you to Phil Porter for sharing a fine endgame example from one of his A team games. Frank Wood has provided the latest showpiece, gem of a game.

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Game 1: Frank Wood vs A Singh is added to games section 16/04/2012. An excellent Morra Gambit win.

Game 2: Another member as had a 17 win game. Well Done to Dave Wightman for his 17 move win against A Schroeder of Bushbury. Has anyone won in fewer than 17 moves This game can be replayed above.

Game 3: Well Done to Colin Haughton who beat Arthur Hall of Lichfield B in just 17 moves when their team visited us 22 Feb 2007 to play our C team in WDCL Div 3. Is this 17 move win a club record? This game can be replayed above.

Game 4: Well Done to Peter Broomhall for winning in just 14 moves in the Staffordshire U100A match 26 Jan 2008. This game beats Colin's speedy 17 move win. Does Peter's game represent a new club record? This game can be replayed above.

Phil Burgess v Peter Leary Walrus 2008: An unusual and exceptional French game added. P Burgess won with a 10 move mate against black's French opening.

04 Feb 2009: An interesting and instructive endgame example of fine play. Courtesy of Phil Porter. Many thanks to Phil for contributing.