[Computer-go] semeai example of winning rate

[Kahn Jonas]

On Tue, 18 Jan 2011, Stefan Kaitschick wrote:

>
>> Side question: How difficult would it be to design
>> a program that generates such "bot-difficult semeais"
>> (or at least building blocks for such) automatically?
>
> Only when bots can solve essential positions, do you need random problems to 
> make sure that the answers are robust.
> Right now, there are a lot af basic positions that bots can't solve.
> And when programmers try to add code that does, the question is, does this 
> make the program stronger?
> The main problem right now is that a lot of "smart" code actually weakens the 
> program.

You know, in this case and for life-and-death in general, maybe
programmers should be cautious when rejecting changes because it makes
the programm (slightly) weaker.
Maybe they already are cautious, but what I mean is that:
we are here essentially trying to patch a bot weakness. The usual way to
test strength is by playing other bots. Since they also have the
weakness, and anyhow won't steer the game in that direction, patching
that weakness does not make a huge difference against them, and can
easily be overshadowed by any collateral change, such as being slightly
slower. On the other hand, it might still make them stronger against
humans.
I know that opponent non-transitivity is usually exaggerated, but in
this case, I would not be surprised if there was something like that.

Jonas