How many moves can a chess game last?

Why the game has to end

Since July 1, 2014, FIDE's Laws of Chess have said that the game is drawn, without anyone having to claim it, if the same position has occurred five times, or if both players have made 75 moves without any pawn moving and without any capture. If the last move gives checkmate, the checkmate stands.

Before that, a player had to claim the draw, and in principle a player who didn't want to could play on forever. The rules are under draws.

The calculation

A pawn move or a capture resets the count of 75 moves. Each pawn can move at most six times, so the 16 pawns have 96 moves between them. On top of that, 30 pieces can be captured, all except the kings. That makes 126.

But for the pawns to get past each other, eight of them have to capture as they move, and then the same move counts twice. That leaves 118. Between them there may be 75 moves each time, and with a small adjustment for whose turn it is, that comes to 118 × 75 − 1½ = 8,848½ moves. François Labelle worked it out in 2015.

Under the 50-move rule

If the players always claim a draw as soon as the 50-move rule allows it, the maximum is 5,898½ moves. Karl Fabel worked that number out as early as 1947, according to Labelle. FIDE's museum page says 5,949 moves, but we haven't found any calculation behind that figure.

Some of the longest games

Real games are much shorter.

A rated game in a London tournament in 2024 went 272 moves and ended in a win for Black. The organizers write that it was first thought to be a record, but that several even longer games have been found.

How long a game usually takes is under How long does a chess game take?