[computer-go] .. if Monte-Carlo programs would play infinitestrong

[Chrilly]

>
> I think the biggest myth of all was that humans were good at chess and
> that a computer had to be better at EVERYTHING in order to beat the
> human masters who were practically given god-like status.
>
In fact they are even today weaker than the top humans besides in 
"athletics". The reason for computer supremacy is Tartakower's law:  The 
winner of a chess-game is the one who made the second-last blunder.

GM M.Adams can play almost every move at least as good or better than Hydra. 
But in contrast to Hydra he (and any other human player) can not play in a 
complicated game 10 moves in a row without making a serious error. After a 
few complicated moves a human gets exhausted. Maybe 8 out of 10 moves are 
optimal, but then the 9th move is a blunder. In case of Hydra 3 out of the 
10 moves are not optimal but also not really bad. Actually this second best 
moves are often for a human more complicated than the best one, because they 
deviate from known human patterns.

Hydra has never lost against a human player. But she was several times 
beaten by Zentaurs (human-computer-combinations). With the help of other 
programms the human player avoids the most striking blunders and the human 
player is superior in complicated positional decisions. But it depends also 
on the position. If it gets really wild Fritz et al. are of little help.

Go is more complicated: Building up a fortress like in chess and playing it 
safe is pointless. One has had the end no weak group but also almost no 
territory. E.g. Many Faces plays very safe. Again modest skilled players 
like myself Many Faces usually does not loose tactical fights. But I win 
relative easy by making more territory and avoiding any infights. Handtalk 
is tactically much weaker and especially almost blind for double-attacks. 
But my Anti-Many-Faces strategy to "give the ape some sugar" does not work 
against Handtalk. Against Handtalk I have to look for infights.
Making no tactical blunders is in Go too less.

Chrilly