Short AI article

[clowntable]

The beauty of go is that players of different skill levels can play with "penaltys" for the better player and have a fair match.
I really like that, means we can run some go tourney some time, yay [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Will learn the rules now.

[Neil S]

[ QUOTE ]
The beauty of go is that players of different skill levels can play with "penaltys" for the better player and have a fair match.
I really like that, means we can run some go tourney some time, yay [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Will learn the rules now.

[/ QUOTE ]The handicaps start to break down once you hit a 10 stone gap, and of course only work if everyone gets themselves rated in the same system *cough*IGS*cough*, but yes, they often work out.

I'd love to have a tournament, heh.

[DustinG]

that ladder problem on the link amp posted is tilting me, help

edit* n/m- im just retarded

[DustinG]

so I've got the IGS opened and and was watching a game- can you explain to me the rankings?

[Neil S]

Heh, ladders are a very basic go concept. Good that you got it together!

As for the rating system, it's based on a traditional system of ranks that is still used today somewhat. Not sure how to describe it simply, but here it goes:

There's a dividing line at what is believed to be a major skill point. The players just above that line are at the 1 dan level. Players who are good enough to give a one stone handicap to 1d players are 2d. 3d players give a one stone handicap to 2d players. It goes up from there.

The players below that line are 1 kyu. Players bad enough that the 1k players will give them a 1 stone handicap are 2k, 2k players give a 1 stone handicap to 3k players, and so on down the line.

Also, the line is worth one stone. So a 1d players gives one handicap to a 1k player.

Total beginners are somewhere in the neighborhood of 30k. I'm at 12k on IGS. A top pro is significantly beyond this amateur scale, though they have their own rank system where the entry level pros are 1d (often written 1p in internet contexts to distinguish from the much more often discussed amateur ratings) and the top pros are 9p.

[kokiri]

As Neil says, in addition to the branching factor, the lack of an easy 'evaluation function' to determine mid-game positions has held back Go programmes to date. My understanding is that in the last year or 2 or so, a new technique of monte-carlo simulations, playing a game out to the end randomly a few times to see who wins, is proving a bit of a leap in the technology.

I'm ok at go - probably over the peak of the bell curve at any rate, but I would expect that the best computers would be able to beat me in 10 years for sure, quite possibly 5. They seem have had got much better in the last 5 years - from really terrible to ok.

[kokiri]

KGS, at KGS (I think) is another popular server and
Sensei's Library is an interesting wiki on Go.

[DustinG]

are there computers that can be played online?

[kokiri]

[ QUOTE ]
are there computers that can be played online?

[/ QUOTE ]

if you play on KGS, there are quite a few accounts that are bots - and displayed as such. There certainly used to be free to download computer opponents....

[Neil S]

[ QUOTE ]
are there computers that can be played online?

[/ QUOTE ]GNU Go can be played online or off.