[Computer-go] Some newbie questions

[Peter Drake]

On Jan 3, 2011, at 10:47 AM, Joona Kiiski wrote:

> Hi everyone!
>
> In last few years I've spend a lot of time with computer chess,
> but in general I found Go much more interesting than chess.
>
> I have zero experience in writing go program, but I've read with
> great interest about Monte Carlo playouts being a highly effective
> new weapon in computer go.
>
> Question 1: How does one playout go? Are you using completely
> random moves or something smarter?

Biasing the playouts to "smarter" moves often helps, although there  
can be paradoxical behavior. One basic trick almost everyone uses is  
to never play in a
"possible eye", which is a vacant point surrounded orthogonally by  
friendly stones, with no more than one (away from the edge) or zero  
(at the edge or corner) diagonal neighbors occupied by enemy stones.

> Question 2: Are there some (preferably high-quality) open-source
> programs around? I took a look at GnuGo, but it's terribly complex
> and seems to presents era before MC-breakthrough.

A very clean, readable version of Orego will be released in the next  
week. Several people have used it in their research, and it's a good  
place to start (assuming you know Java). In tournaments, Orego  
generally comes in above the weak programs and below the very strong  
programs.

> Question 3: Are there standardized protocols which allow programs
> easily play against each others? Are there GUIs or tourney managers
> to easily play a lot of engine-engine matches.

GTP is the standard protocol:

http://www.lysator.liu.se/~gunnar/gtp/

Tournaments are held monthly on the KGS Go Server. Watch this list for  
details.

> If the conditions are right, I might want to try Go-programming in  
> near
> future...
>
> Joona Kiiski

Best of luck!

Peter Drake
http://www.lclark.edu/~drake/