[computer-go] Re: Should 9x9 komi be 8.0 ?]

[Christoph Birk]

On Mon, 3 Mar 2008, Don Dailey wrote:
> What you are trying to do is more in the category of opponent
> modeling.    You want to optimize for the case that you might
> occasionally salvage a game against an opponent that is much weaker than
> you but is beating you anyway.

No, absolutely not. The idea of following the 0.5 pt loss is always
true, even if the opponent is of comparable strength.

> strength level.  If your program KNOWS it is losing by 0.5 points,  then
> it's reasonable to expect that your opponent does too, especially given
> the fact that he just outplayed you.

I think you are too much of "chess player" :-)
The fact that he is 0.5  point in the lead does not imply he is
(much) stronger. Any player, in particular a human player, is capable
of the making a mistake. So it is important to stay on the 'small'
losing line. That might a difference to chess, where there is no
'small' loss.

> So at best you hope your opponent will make a stupid mistake in an
> obviously lost position for you.

No, the opposite. Not a stupid mistake; I am hoping for the subtle
mistake. But you throw that opportunity away If you play "desparate"
moves just because you think you will lose the game by 0.5 points.

> There is nothing wrong with this,  if it's what you want to lose sleep
> over,  but how much do you expect to gain from it?     I see people
> getting excited about this idea as if it's the holy grail of computer go
> and will add 50 ELO or more.

Nobody called this the "holy grail" ... but I agree with you that
there  are bigger problems in computer Go ...

Christoph