Computer Cracks 5x5 Go

gustgr writes "The American Go Association is reporting that Go for the 5x5 board has been solved by the computer program MIGOS, reports the program's creator, Erik Van Der Werk, a professor at the University of Maastricht in Holland. At about a quarter of the full-board version, 5x5 go is miniscule, similar in scale to "solving" 2X2 chess. The fact that a programmer would even consider this a noteworthy challenge is itself a remarkable testament to the game's complexity. Van Der Werk's approach is described in detail in an article at the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NOSR)."

Comments

Some slashdot lore.

[Eunuch]

Slashdot has a longstanding joke that with every chess article, some wide-eyed enthusiast will blurt out a quick description of Go like he's first to discover it in all the West. Speed is essential! There may be some pasty white guy who does not know the wonder that is Go.

I fully expect someone to breathlessly explain the Great Goodness that is Chess.

Chess is fun. Go is fun. People have generally heard of both. That is all.

Re:Some slashdot lore.

[cgenman]

A Go board is 19x19. This solution was for 5x5. Saying that it is a quarter of the size of the full board is incorrect, it's actually one fourteenth the size.

A Chess board is 8x8. One sixteenth of that is 2x2. It's a reasonable comparison, at least mathematically. The difference is that while Go at 5x5 is still strategic, if predictable, Chess at 2x2 is meaningless. One could say that Go happens to hold up well under that type of minimalist circumstance. One could also say that Go is just a physically larger game than Chess, and achieves a deeper degree of strategy through sheer insane volume.

But overall mathematically, it's a fair comparison.

Re:2X2 Chess?

[_Pablo]

In my opinion, for it to be chess, it would have to have two kings otherwise no one could win. Therefore 2x2 chess would start with checkmate and is absurd.