[gnugo-devel] Re: [computer-go] SlugGo v.s. Many Faces update

[bump]

> > We have a kludge I am not proud of. I hope to improve upon it soon.
> > We have been busy trying to make up for all the lost time rather than
> > trying to change features that may be ugly but work well enough for
> > now.
> 
> My solution was to build an opening book :)
> 
> It has its pros and cons; I can talk about it more if people want to
> hear details.

I'm cross-posting from this thread in the computer-go
list to gnugo-devel.

GNU Go's opening weaknesses seem to me to be:

(1) a tendency to make bad tenuki's. This problem is
not special to the opening, but it is often in the
opening that GNU Go plays away from an urgent position
to take a big point somewhere else.

(2) GNU Go doesn't really understand the importance of
making a base. (That is, an extension along the side
where eyes are most easily gotten.) If a stone 
is approached from one side, extending on the other
is reflexive but GNU Go doesn't understand this
principle.

In case it is not clear what I mean, in the
following example, moves 6, 9 and 12 are important
moves because they are extensions from a stone that
is approached on one side to create a base. Of
course GNU Go would play 9 (because it is Joseki).
But that is beside the point. GNU Go doesn't really
understand this principle.

(;GM[1]FF[3]
RU[Japanese]SZ[19]HA[0]KM[5.5]
PW[White]
PB[Black]
GN[White (W) vs. Black (B)]
DT[2005-03-31]
SY[Cgoban
1.9.14]TM[30:00(5x1:00)];B[pp];W[dd];B[pd]
;W[dp];B[fq];W[cn];B[dr];W[cq];B[iq];W[qj];B[qm];W[qg]
)

If these two defects are addressed, the opening play
would be stronger.

For the first, it would be good to have a measure
of the local temperature. That is, with play restricted
to a particular area, what is the difference between
the valuation between a W move there and a B move?
If it is large, then a move in that area is urgent.
This is not a test that GNU Go makes, but it would
be not hard to implement in GNU Go, and trivial in a
metamachine such as GoFigure or SlugGo.

For the second point, the usual approach with GNU Go
would be to add some patterns. But for a
metamachine, it might be more important if the
value of having a base were taken into account
in the valuation of the board.

Dan