Re: Why no backgammon discussion?
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Also, there isn't a lot of discussion on backgammon here because there are computer programs that have basically solved the game,
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No, they aren't close to solving the game. They play very well, at the level of the top human players or better, but they still make a lot of mistakes.
A well-known backgammon player keeps sending me backgammon positions he found interesting, along with the evaluations presented as The Answer. I believe his conclusions are wrong almost half of the time. Maybe the bot makes the right play 90% of the time, while a human plays correctly 80% of the time, but that may mean that when they disagree, the bot is only right 2/3 of the time. (Sometimes play C is correct.) When the decision is interesting, and the human has good reasons for disagreeing with the bot, the bot's reliability drops.
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and analyzing your strategy with such a program is a much better way to improve than having a discussion amongst players on this board.
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Possibly right. Bots are great sparring partners and great for giving objective feedback. I think all of the top players train with bots. However, bots are not very good about explaining why a move is right, or how to think about a situation.
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