1assuming that u mean the first 3 moves of both the players included (that is 1st move of player 1, 1st move of player 2 and 2nd move of player 1)
the first move of player 1 and 2 is in 16+4 ways (16 ways for the pawns.. 2 for each pawn) and 4 for the knights. (2 for each knight)
The player 1 has a lot of options..
a) pawn followed by pawn
b) knight followed by pawn
c) knight followed by knight
d) pawn followed by knight, bishop, rook, queen, king..
count thse
u should get the answer :)
1i did some googling to reach the solution...
George Steiner in his book 'Field of Force' states that there are
318,979,584,000 legitimate ways to make the first four moves in a chess game.
It is said there are more possible variations in a game of chess than there are atoms in the universe roughly 10 to the 80th power and seconds that have elapsed since the solar system came into existence roughly 2x10 to the 17th power.
As for chess it is estimated that there are approximately 25x10116 ways for a game to go.
given these I think your question is very difficult in just 3 moves and u know why :P
