[computer-go] KGS online Go Tournaments: two suggestions

[Aloril]

On Mon, 2006-05-29 at 16:46 +0100, Nick Wedd wrote:
> I will continue to run monthly bot tournaments on KGS, as previously  - 
> see http://www.weddslist.com/kgs/future.html.  There are two other kinds 
> of tournament which I could also run:
> 
> VERY SLOW
> i.e. one move a day.  This could be achieved by setting zero initial 
> time, and ten byo-yomi periods each of 24 hours.

This would be interesting for SimpleBot. Monte Carlo style search is
probably too slow to do in Python in usual time settings and I have some
local Monte Carlo search code mostly done but not really being used.

Probably can't use 100% of CPU for all moves though but still should be
enough to play significantly different than normal play.

> 
> VERY FAST
> Sudden death, maybe one minute each for a 9x9 game, or five minutes each 
> for 19x19.  Some bots play this fast anyway, I guess others could be 
> told to.

SimpleBot should be able to finish 19x19 game in about 20-30s using
current time management code. I think communication lag is currently
limiting factor.

> 
> If you would be interested in such an event, please let me know, and 
> tell me your preferred time limits, board size, etc.
> 
> Nick

I'm most interested on 19x19 sizes but I'm OK with 9x9 also of course.

1 move / day and 19x19 might be a bit too long tough unless something
like this is possible: I wonder if it would be possible to allow
updating bot to new version when *opponent* is thinking and has not yet
submitted move? This would allow to do 2 things:
1) update bot when new version becomes available
2) fix bugs that game uncovers (once those errors/blunders have been
made already on board ;-)

However it would not allow to change code to make it play another move
when it is its *own* turn.

I think this would make participating much more interesting for authors.
It also makes it much more challenging to be sure games are fair :-(
No free lunch ;-)

For Open Source/Free bots verifying rules should be 'easy': all source
code and logs could be available for all moves.

For long games I think it should be allowed for bot owner to resign for
bot.

I think really long thinking times are quite different from faster games
because it has more challenges to keep tournament interesting and also
offers more options to keep it interesting. There could be even mailing
list to discuss about current games and what programmers are doing to
improve bots between moves.

-- 
Aloril <aloril at iki.fi>