[gnugo-devel] Report from the computer olympiad

[Inge Wallin]

I have just played 2 rounds in the 19x19 go tournament.  The result so
far is one win and one loss.  The win was against Ether, an extremely
weak program whose moves make no sense whatsoever.  The loss was
against Go Intellect, whose moves make somewhat more sense.  :-)

The game against Go Intellect was lost with 19.5 points and was very
exiting.  I will try to send the game record later today. GNU Go
started by defending somewhat badly against an invasion. Then the
invading group got into trouble, but managed to escape. Gnugo had to
run with a weak group, managed to save it and then abandoned it!

After that it came back pretty strongly with a huge moyo which
solidified into territory. Go Intellect let GNU Go into its territory
on one edge and GNU got quite a few points there.  Go Intellect also
threw away about 10 points on pointless (!) moves.  According
to Mr Chen, the author of Go Intellect, the program would not have
done this if the position was close.

At last, Go Intellect, invided the big moyo and tried to live but GNU
defended nicely.  That is, except for letting Go Intellect have a ko
for life, something that Go Intellect did not take advantage of.

To summarize: We are getting there, but we still have some way to go.

        -Inge