Persistent Homologies of the Chess Board

Author

Harley Kaufman

Published

September 25, 2026

There are more chess positions than there are atoms in the universe, but how are they distributed? Using topological data analysis, this project aims to classify and compare the shape of positions in which white wins and the shape of positions in which black wins. This talk will cover the basic ideas and mathematics behind topological data analysis, and go over the some of the struggles in my own implementation.