What is the most plys possible in a game of chess?

In chess terminology a "move" consists of the white's turn plus the black's turn. Each turn is called a "ply" or a half move.



Ignoring the 50 move rule but varying the threefold repetition rule so that the game ends automatically (normally a player has to claim a draw) if an identical position occurs three times with the same player to move.What is the most plys possible in a game of chess?This is a very difficult question to answer. In fact, answering it is about as computationally difficult as it would be to derive a "perfect game" with a computer.



There have been estimated to be roughly 10^43 legal positions, however this is all positions, not all positions in one game. Also, you cannot repeat every position (pawn moves become especially significant here.



An approximation would be very difficult. For example, trying to calculate pawn moves would be easy, but then you have to consider that for every pawn move, you could have all other pieces dance around the board and repeat every possible position 2 times before you move that pawn forward one more time, and then start all over again.



This is impossible to compute in any reasonable amount of time (would take a lab of high powered computers many thousands of years if not more) and we lack any mathematical model for the combinations possibilities. Suffice it to say... this would be many quadrillions of plys.What is the most plys possible in a game of chess?Definitely not possible to answer..It would take much more than a lifetime to get the exact number. In fact, this problem might be almost as difficult to figure out as the flawless game.What is the most plys possible in a game of chess?With the 50 move rule, it's 5,949

Without it...that's near impossible to figure out, sorry.What is the most plys possible in a game of chess?
500