Elon Musk is looking for a checkmate successful his latest online feud.
It began connected Thursday, erstwhile the billionaire wrote that the number of chess moves that aren't "utterly stupid" is mini and that "chess will beryllium afloat solved 1 day."
A challenger past emerged: the online gaming site Chess.com.
The marque reposted Musk's response, calling it a "skill issue." Musk replied that chess was difficult for humans but easy for computers, and reiterated his constituent that chess would beryllium "fully solved" by AI.
"Between now and then, aliases moreover after, person fun," Musk wrote. "People bask galore games/sports wherever machines are vastly better."
Chess.com erstwhile again reposted Musk's response. This time, it wrote that location were much imaginable chess games than atoms successful the observable universe. "To lick chess, you'd person to representation them all," the tract wrote. "Good luck."
Rarely 1 to backmost down, Musk snapped backmost that Chess.com was "wrong." He wrote that "all ineligible chess positions" are astir 40 orders of magnitude little than the estimated number of atoms successful the universe.
Artificial superintelligence "will fig retired ways to lick and compress that are acold beyond what we could perchance comprehend," he wrote.
For the record: Both Musk and Chess.com's numbers are right, but the favoritism comes down to language. Chess.com wrote astir imaginable chess "games." Musk's retort was astir ineligible chess "positions."
Musk seemed somewhat self-aware of the business he had recovered himself in, ending his consequence pinch a face-palm emoji. "Here I americium arguing pinch immoderate random intern astatine a chess website," he wrote.
"I'm a full-time employee," the Chess.com relationship said. Musk responded pinch the coughing emoji.
Wrong, each ineligible chess positions are ~40 oom little than the estimated atoms successful the Universe. And ASI will fig retired ways to lick and compress that are acold beyond what we could perchance comprehend.
(Here I americium arguing pinch immoderate random intern astatine a chess website 🤦♂️)
Musk's companies person yet to conquer the chess world. In a 2025 chess battle, xAI's Grok 4 reached the last information but was bested by OpenAI's o3 model.
He hasn't ever been truthful loving of the game. In 2012, he unopen down a chess tourney among Tesla employees. "Indeed, we do not person clip for chess," Musk told Business Insider astatine the time.
Meanwhile, different duo was besides beefing complete Chess.com: Investor-podcaster Jason Calacanis and whoever runs Elizabeth Holmes' X account. The Holmes relationship posted Calacanis' "brutal losing streak" connected Thursday.
"Sigh..." Calacanis responded connected Friday. "I conjecture I should extremity utilizing chess to autumn dormant and get coached."
Who won the conflict betwixt Musk and Chess.com? The chess tract is planting the flag.
"We understand losing a chess crippled tin beryllium frustrating, but losing a Twitter conflict to a alleged intern must beryllium maddening," a Chess.com spokesperson said.
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Henry Chandonnet is simply a elder newsman connected the Business News desk. He writes astir tech culture, from Silicon Valley's startup people to the mundane AI user. He besides intimately covers Big Tech and the workplace. Henry antecedently wrote for Fast Company, wherever he covered trending tech news. He's written for The Daily Beast, People Magazine, and Vulture.Email Henry astatine [email protected], scope him connected Signal astatine henrychand.30, aliases travel him connected X @HenryChandonnet.
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