Slashdot Mirror
Number of Legal 18x18 Go Positions Computed; 19x19 On the Horizon
johntromp writes It took about 50,000 CPU hours and 4PB of disk IO, but now we know the exact number of legal 18x18 Go positions. Seeking computing power for the ultimate 19x19 count. And it's not a heat-death-of-the-universe kind of question, either, they say: "Thanks to the Chinese Remainder Theorem, the work of computing L(19,19) can be split up into 9 jobs that each compute 64 bits of the 566-bit result. Allowing for some redundancy, we need from 10 to 13 servers, each with at least 8 cores, 512GB RAM, and ample disk space (10-15TB), running for about 5-9 months."
I played chess and go when I was a kid in China, and sucked at both. From my limited experience, chess is more tactical and analytic, while go is more strategic and holistic, although local territorial fights in go can be just as intense, where skills in chess can somewhat "transfer". Because of its holistic nature, kids sometimes excel in go. If you start as an adult, it'd be difficult, if not impossible to attain master level performance. But in any case, go is trivial to learn and more fun to play. Best of luck.
I played chess and go when I was a kid in China, and sucked at both.
There are approximately 100 people in the world who don't suck at chess, and even they make silly mistakes. Don't play chess in an effort to be the 'best', play chess because it's fun.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Chess is a battle. Go is a war.
I'm bad at Go (about 19k AGA, which is quite bad), but I really enjoy it. The Go community differs radically from the chess community. My experience (yours may vary) is that the Go community is more supportive, understanding, and genteel. There's a lot of tradition and protocol in Go and I think it means something.
You can be a clueless beginner (the writer raises his hand), go to a club (or online) and almost always find someone willing to give you a teaching game. If there is a club in your area, meeting some other players is a giant plus, but there are many great online sites.
I play for fun, which is the best reason, and I enjoy it immensely. Will I improve? Of course. Will I ever excel? No, but that's not the point for me.