[computer-go] Monte-Carlo is the future of 19x19

[sylvain.gelly at m4x.org]

> I understand the definition of Monte Carlo.  But when people talk about
> Monte Carlo go, they mean programs that evalutate random games, not
> professional games.  

To be completely precise, professional games are also random games (if it was 
not, all games between two players would always be the same). "random" does 
not mean "uniformly". Even deterministic players are "random" (P=1 for one 
move, and 0 for all the others).
I know that you know that, it is only to be precise on the terms used.

> You are making the same point I made.  What I meant to 
> say is that using random games and an evaluation that only understands
> final scores will not make a strong go program.  There needs to be some
> knowledge in the evaluation making the games examined non-random.  There
> are fights in 19x19 games that need a little knowledge to evaluate.  Random
> game monte carlo isn't enough.

Here, I am not sure about the meaning of "random" for you. I think I disagree 
with the statement "an evaluation that only understands final scores will not 
make a strong go program" depending on what you mean by random. 
Perhaps we are making the same points, perhaps not :).

Sylvain