[Computer-go] Computer Go and EGC 2012

[John Tromp]

On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 9:59 AM, "Ingo Althöfer" <3-Hirn-Verlag at gmx.de> wrote:

> What I mean is the following:
> The human player (in 19x19) determines how many handicap stones he gives
> to the bot (either 2 or 3 or 4 or 5).
>
> When he selects a difficult task (=giving high handicap) he gets high
> reward in case of a win. When he selects a more easy task (= giving low
> handicap) he gets only small reward in case of success. So, the list
> from the original posting (300 Euro bonus in case of a win at 5 handicap
> stones) is what I mean.
>
> By giving him this choice under the reward system, I want to learn
> what this special person thinks about his/her chances.

Considering that the smallest handicap at which computers have beaten pros
is 5 or 6, few pros would want the embarrassment of choosing less.
Being the first pro to lose a 4 handicap game is not a particularly
attractive prospect:-(

I expect they will blindly go with the 6 handicap option, mostly due
to professional pride,
but also because of the higher reward and  because there is less embarrassment
(even if a higher chance of) losing at the higher handicap.

regards,
-John