[Computer-go] A Survey of Monte Carlo Tree Search Methods

[Cameron Browne]

Hi Everyone,

You might be interested in the following paper: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=6145622

This is a survey of MCTS techniques which gives an overview of the general method and its variations, enhancements and applications, with an emphasis on Computer Go as the main MCTS problem domain so far. Here is the abstract:

"Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is a recently proposed search method that combines the precision of tree search with the generality of random sampling. It has received considerable interest due to its spectacular success in the difficult problem of computer Go, but has also proved beneficial in a range of other domains. This paper is a survey of the literature to date, intended to provide a snapshot of the state of the art after the first five years of MCTS research. We outline the core algorithm's derivation, impart some structure on the many variations and enhancements that have been proposed, and summarise the results from the key game and non-game domains to which MCTS methods have been applied. A number of open research questions indicate that the field is ripe for future work."

Regards,
Cameron Browne
Imperial College London