[computer-go] KGS bot tournaments: poll

[David Doshay]

Hello All,

First, Thanks to Nick for doing these tournaments and for asking what  
we would like.

Sticking with most of the replies I have seen so far, I will send my  
votes on the form directly to Nick, but will comment here on a few  
points.

First, I am wondering about the 2-out-of-3 bias for smaller boards.  
Given that CGOS is now a regularly used resource, could simple back  
and forth 19x19 one month, and the 9-13 parings the next be a better  
choice? With so many stronger programs are we now ready for more  
regular 19x19 tournaments? I think so.

The Formal/Open structure has always had a distinct possibility of  
impacting us because SlugGo is a GNU Go wrapper (not the much feared  
clone) which significantly uses GNU Go code, but often makes moves  
that GNU Go would not (for better and for worse). So far it has not  
been a problem sharing the Formal division with the GNU folks. I have  
asked them a few days in advance of the tournament if I can take the  
Formal spot and except for a few times when I did not get any answer  
in a timely way (it happens on open source projects) they said OK, or  
if they wanted the Formal spot to check something new, SlugGo went  
into the Open division. It has worked fine for us. But the reason for  
the divide (what if there are a whole slew of GNU clones?) never did  
materialize.

SlugGo has not been in a KGS tournament in a while, but we hope to  
get some things done and be able to bring some new software to a  
tournament soon.


Cheers,
David



On 18, Jan 2008, at 9:41 AM, Nick Wedd wrote:

> It is two years and six months since I chose the format that we use  
> for the monthly bot tournaments on KGS.  Since then, things have  
> changed: UCT has been invented, processing power has increased,  
> pondering has been implemented in more programs, and CGOS is  
> running.  I get occasional requests for changes to the format of  
> the KGS tournaments;  I generally think, "yes, that's a good idea",  
> and then forget to do anything about it.  So I have decided to poll  
> the members of this list, about what changes they think desirable.
>
> HOW THINGS ARE NOW
>
> The current settings for the tournaments are listed at
> http://www.weddslist.com/kgs/future.html
> Each event consists of two tournaments, one Formal (with entry  
> restrictions) and one Open.  The events go in a cycle: 19x19+19x19,  
> 9x9+13x13, 13x13+9x9.  For each board size, the time limits (which  
> are all sudden death) also cycle.  The cycles are: 19x19 - 58m,  
> 28m, 18m; 13x13: 13m, 18m, 28m;  9x9: 8m, 13m, 28m.
>