I’m guessing this is more pronounced at lower levels. At high level chess, I often hear commentators comparing the moves to their database of games, and it often takes 20-30 moves before they declare that they have now reached a position which has never been reached in a professional game. The high level players have been grinding openings and their counters and the counters to the counters so deeply that a lot of the initial moves can be pretty common.
Also, high levels means that games are narrowing more towards the “perfect” moves, meaning that repetition from existing games are more likely.
beto@lemmy.studio 2 years ago
Related: every time you shuffle a deck of cards you get a sequence that has never happened before. The chance of getting a sequence that has occurred is stupidly small.
my_hat_stinks@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Most of the time, but only as long as the shuffle is actually random. A perfect riffle shuffle on a brand new deck will get you the same result every time, and 8 perfect riffles on a row get you back to where you started.