NYT Story On Go Programs And AI

mykej writes: "The NYT (registration required, blah blah) has a story on Go, the hardest game for computers to play. From the article: 'Programmers working on Go see it as more accurate than chess in reflecting the ineffable ways in which the human mind works. The challenge of programming a computer to mimic that process goes to the core of artificial intelligence, which involves the study of learning and decision-making, strategic thinking, knowledge representation, pattern recognition and, perhaps most intriguingly, intuition.' There are a few throwaway lines about Nash from 'A Beautiful Mind,' although they don't mention the game he invented after getting frustrated with the inconsistencies of go."

Comments

History on Go

[RobinH]

Try this site.

It also has instructions on how to teach Go, if you're interested.

A tidbit about Go

[Blind Linux]

lie in the way that the decisions are made and the differences in how they affect the playing field. The average game of Go actually lasts longer than the average chess game and is far older...
For starters, Go in its pure form is played on a 19x19 board as supposed to an 8x8 board. Chess's famous plays, games and styles have all been archived, whereas Go's strategies are largely abstract and can only be learned by repeated play. The game only begins to take structure after 30 to 50 moves. According to this site, Go has approximately 10 to the 750th power of possible board positions. This makes it a very hard game for computers to learn.
On the historical side, Go is a complex game that originated in China close to 4000 years ago and has remained constant to its' original form despite being introduced to many southeast Asian countries since.

Re:A tidbit about Go

[flipflapflopflup]

Whilst I'm personally a Go fan, not a chess fan, I don't think I agree with your arguments.

>Go in its pure form is played on a 19x19 board as supposed to an 8x8 board
So? What has the size of a board got to do with it? In chess you can move pieces around, in GO you cannot.

>Chess's famous plays, games and styles have all been archived, whereas Go's strategies are largely abstract and can only be learned by repeated play
Not really true. There are masses of games available as .sgf files that you can study to your hearts content. THere are many clasic moves to make in certain positions, etc.

>The game only begins to take structure after 30 to 50 moves.
Again, not really. THere are masses of standard opening patterns (fuseki), and also many standardised plays (joseki) that can go on during a game. A whole lot goes on in the first 20 - 30 moves to shape the rest of the game.

Go is a great game, it doesn't need imbalanced comparisons with chess to prove it, you just need to play the game a while to realise that. Maybe you should try.

Hikaru no Go

[Spacelem]

I've just started playing Go recently with my flatmates and a friend. It's all because of this amazing anime series "Hikaru no Go" about a boy who meets the spirit of a thousand year old Go master from the Heian period, who teaches and encourages him to start learning the game. From there his own love of the game develops, and he heads towards being a pro.

HNG was sponsored by the Japanese Go society as a way of making Go more popular, and Japanese Go schools are currently being swamped by new players. It's up to episode 38 already, so you'll have some catching up, but the fansubs are great. This link http://www.toriyamaworld.com/hikago/ has some of the original manga if you're interested.

Go and find out more about Go!!!

Why Go Programming is Difficult

[mechner]

A more in-depth article on go programming, from the point of view of a programmer and a player, originally published in The Sciences: http://mechner.com/david/compgo/ Click on "All Systems Go".

Other information about Go - Links-a-plenty

[gatekeep]

For those of you interested in learning more about Go, here's some links to resources I've found helpful since starting to play 3 weeks ago.

k5 had an article about go which is what initially piqued my interest and got me started in the game.

Kiseido Go Server is my favorite place to play online, and very newbie friendly.

Some great introductions are available from Kiseido The Interactive Way to Go and Tel's Go Notes

Uligo and Goproblems.com are great places for learning how to play in common situations.

If you prefer a phyiscal board and stones check out Samarkand and Kiseido

Also, anyone in the Chicago area should check out the Evanston Go Club

A word of caution, if you decide to learn go, expect to lose most of your first 50-100 games. It's a long road, but once you start making progress, you'll grow quickly. I know I sure have. Anyone who's up for a game look for 'jjarmoc' on KGS.