[Computer-go] Beating old ManyFaces at 29 handicap stones

[Darren Cook]

> Recently, dynamic komi helped Monte Carlo bots to play better
> in handicap situations. Now I set up a prize for the programmer
> of a bot that beats the old ManyFaces at 29 handicap stones: 
> 1,000 Euro for the first bot that achieves this at least three 
> times in a five games match. The offer ends on December 31, 2020.
> Details will be clarified in a forthcoming website.

Hello Ingo,
This is an interesting proposal. Especially if the same bot can play
strongly at all handicaps. (I.e. winning at 29 handicap stones, but
losing at 20 handicap stones, tells us the programmers have just written
a good 29-stone-handicap fuseki.)

One suggestion, on that theme, is to require programs to *qualify* by
beating MF at increasing handicaps, on KGS or somewhere. With the
condition it has to be the same binary and database at each handicap. :-)

I remember the weaknesses of the traditional computer programs, relative
to MCTS programs, was the endgame, ko and life and death. And coping
with positions that are not standard patterns. It seems to me like an
MCTS program (with some suitable dynamic komi cleverness) could do
rather well in this kind of challenge.

In fact I think a bot is more likely to beat MF at 29 stones than beat
Martin Mueller in an even game :-)
...hhmmm, that might make an interesting poll to setup!

I guess your motivation is to push some progress in dynamic komi (and
similar) research?

Darren

-- 
Darren Cook, Software Researcher/Developer

http://dcook.org/work/ (About me and my work)
http://dcook.org/blogs.html (My blogs and articles)