Re: [gnugo-devel] using MPI for gnugo.

[Daniel Bump]

> Since then it has also become clear that Monte Carlo tree search
> benefits from increased computing power a lot more than any previous
> algoritms in GNU Go. The Monte Carlo code has its own board
> implementation in engine/montecarlo.c and was designed with parallel
> computing in mind, although there is no actual support for that in GNU
> Go yet.

My impression of the MC engine is that it is still
weak at life and death. I can often kill it though
it plays very good yose. If it were stronger at life
and death, it would be strong for 9x9.

> There's no particular need to do anything drastic with the existing
> code. The only thing that matters in the short term for making GNU Go
> stronger is to catch up with the Monte Carlo development, especially
> make the Monte Carlo code scale better to larger boards. Key ideas to
> look into there are RAVE (rapid action value estimation),
> progressive widening, and improved move ordering.

Improved move ordering may be mainly a tuning matter.

What is the process for tuning the existing Monte Carlo code?

How can we see what the code is doing?

I don't think these questions are fully answered with
the existing doc.

Dan