[computer-go] Sho-Dan-level at 9x9

[David Doshay]

SlugGo has played in the Cotsen Open the last 2 years in Los Angeles.
The program has entered in the 10k bracket against humans. People
are allowed to decline being paired against the program because in
AGA rules, games against computers do not count towards your
official ranking. The games are official in the tournament. The first
year the entered programs were SlugGo and Ander's SmartGo, and
because we had met the day before the tournament and the programs
had played 2 games, we requested that the programs not be paired
against each other.

The first year only one person declined to be paired, only because he
lived in a remote place and got very few official games. The second
year several people expressed a desire not to be paired against SlugGo,
and I think it was partly because SlugGo beat an 8k the first year.

It was looking like SlugGo was not going to be paired in the last round,
so I told the tournament director that he should tell people that SlugGo
had hit a bug that had caused it to crash in all previous games, and
eventually he found someone willing to get the probable win.

The Cotsen Open has a cash prize for the best computer program,
which I felt somewhat guilty accepting after loosing all games due
to the bug, but SlugGo was the only program entered this year, and
the cash did help to offset the cost of renting the wheelchair van
with hydraulic ramp that I needed to transport the cluster.

Cheers,
David



On 1, Jan 2007, at 10:02 AM, Don Dailey wrote:

> Hi Chrilly,
>
> I find it pretty amazing that even a little money will inspire people
> to play a computer who wouldn't otherwise.
>
> Many years ago my old chess programs were welcome at tournaments, but
> as soon as players started losing,  the program wore out it's welcome!
>
> The change was like night and day.   We came to one tournament and
> almost everyone signed the "refuse to play a computer list."
>
> So I offered 5 dollars for a draw and 10 dollars for a win.  This tiny
> incentive caused almost all the players to agree to play the computer
> and in fact many players begged to play it.
>
> What was ironic, was that didn't pay out a single penny but  
> everyone was
> happy!
>
> - Don
>
>
>
> On Mon, 2007-01-01 at 18:53 +0100, Chrilly wrote:
>>>
>>>> For Suzie I try for 9x9 to establish a Dan-ranking at the next  
>>>> European
>>>> Championship in Villach/Austria.
>>>
>>> Do you mean that you are planning to enter it for a regular  
>>> "human" Go
>>> event?  Have you checked that the organisers will allow this?
>>>
>>> I once entered Professor Chen's HandTalk for a human Go  
>>> tournament which I
>>> was organising, in Oxford.  I received no complaints from its  
>>> opponents,
>>> but several from stronger players, and from British Go Association
>>> officials, who asked me never to do this again.
>>>
>>> Nick
>>
>> I am in touch with the organizers. They have asked me to give a  
>> lecture
>> about computer-go. Maybe one can organize around this a 9x9 match  
>> humans
>> against Suzie. Some sort of practical lecture. One has to give the  
>> humans
>> some (small) incentive to take the match serious. E.g. at the  
>> Vienna chess
>> open I played once with Nimzo Blitz. Every player had to pay 1$.  
>> The money
>> was put in a pot and the first winner of a game got the pot. This was
>> extremly popular and some players even went away during their  
>> games to hit
>> the jack-pot.
>>
>>  I do not plan to play in the official part of the tournament.  
>> There is up
>> to my knowledge anyway no 9x9 tournament and if it is, an EC is  
>> for humans
>> and not for computers.
>>
>> Chrilly
>>
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