Go and the computer

Abstract

It seems that a disproportionately large number of mathematicians and computer engineers are members of the Go playing population in Western countries, and there is a sound reason for this. The development of Game Theory received its first great boost with the successful analysis of Poker and the demonstration that Poker principles can be observed in human situations on a very wide scale. The investigators then turned their attention to other games of skill and intelligence such as Bridge and Chess and finally to Go. In order to understand the principles of these games attempts were made to program computers to play them (at least the board game variety). We now have computers that play many games but their prowess varies in inverse proportion to the complexity of the game. For instance a computer is one of the top five 'tic tac toe' (Noughts and Crosses) players in the U.S. However, When it comes to chess the best performance so far attained is evaluated at around 1,700 points while in Go no one has yet produced a program which will Go beyond 10 kyu, the first level achieved by every beginner.