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The debate began on Sept. 3 when Musk wrote on X that the number of sensible moves in chess is small and predicted the game would be completely solved by machines one day.

Chess.com, the world’s largest online chess platform, quickly responded with two words: “skill issue”. This phrase is commonly used in gaming communities to mock players who lose due to a lack of skill.

Musk did not let this go and argued that while chess is difficult for humans, it is relatively simple for computers.

“One day, it will be fully solved like checkers. Between now and then, or even after, have fun. People enjoy many games/sports where machines are vastly better,” he wrote.

Chess.com countered his point with a mathematical argument regarding scale. The platform noted that the total number of possible chess games exceeds the estimated number of atoms in the observable universe by approximately 40 orders of magnitude, and that completely solving chess would require computers to map out every possibility.

Musk pushed back on this premise, drawing a distinction between the total number of possible games and the number of valid positions.

“Wrong, all legal chess positions are ~40 oom less than the estimated atoms in the Universe, he wrote. “And ASI (artificial superintelligence) will figure out ways to solve and compress that are far beyond what we could possibly comprehend.”

According to Business Insiderboth parties presented factually correct numbers, but they were referencing different concepts. Chess.com cited the massive number of possible game sequences, while Musk focused on the number of valid moves.

The technical debate eventually devolved into a verbal clash on X.

Musk attempted to dismiss the Chess.com account administrator by referring to them as “some random intern.”

The account immediately responded that they were a full-time employee, prompting Musk to respond with a coughing emoji.

“We understand losing a chess game can be frustrating, but losing a Twitter fight to a so-called intern must be maddening,” a representative of Chess.com told USA Today.

A screenshot of the debate between Elon Musk and Chess.com on X.

This recent dispute is not the first time Musk and Chess.com have clashed online.

In 2022, the world’s richest man claimed that chess was too simple to be useful in real life. He criticized the game for utilizing a basic eight-by-eight grid and lacking modern gaming elements.

Chess.com published a lengthy response mocking Musk’s understanding of the game, highlighting complex mechanics such as castling, pawn promotion and en passant captures.

Checkers have been fully solved after years of advanced computation because its space of possibilities is significantly smaller than that of chess.

Chess remains considerably more complex due to its astronomical number of potential game variations and valid moves. The game has currently only been fully solved for simplified scenarios involving seven or fewer pieces on the board, but 32 pieces are a whole different story.

Musk also had other connections to chess. His company xAI recently saw its Grok 4 model reach the finals of a 2025 AI chess competition before losing to OpenAI’s o3 model.

The 55-year-old billionaire used to underappreciate chess. When Tesla employees organized an internal chess tournament in 2012, Musk halted the event, declaring that the company “has no time for chess.”