Artificial Intelligence has taken go into new realms and this year at the US Go Congress attendees will be able to learn and improve their own games by playing against one of the new generation of AI players. Facebook’s OpenGo, which features a 20-0 record against top-30 professionals, will be playing teaching simuls early in the week.
The simuls will be held on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday afternoons (July 22, 23, and 24) with OpenGo playing 20 simultaneous no-handicap teaching games each day. Each player will be mailed an SGF file after the game with annotations from OpenGo.
Participants will play on physical boards, with volunteers relaying the moves to and from OpenGo. The Congress organizers expect high demand for the 60 simultaneous playing slots and are offering the opportunity first to those who have completed their Congress registration by June 20. If more than 60 of those registrants wish to play against OpenGo, a lottery will be held for the seats.
To sign up, select the OpenGo Simul event as part of your registration on the Go Congress website. If you’ve already registered, go to “My Account,” click on an attendee name, then find the “Simul against Facebook OpenGo” section to add the event to your registration. If you haven’t already registered, select the event as part of your new attendee registration.
The schedule of events has been added to the Congress mobile app along with other events and lots of information about the Congress. It is available as a free download for iOS and Android devices.
June 1 AlphaGo video commentary, hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock. “But, also as usual, they all come back to life, and the game is pretty close.” “There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead,” said Meijke Balay, picking up on “The Princess Bride” reference in the video. “Mostly dead is slightly alive.” “Feels like my favorite so far,” adds Zak Smith, “even though I might feel this way after every video.”
AlphaGo Zero vs. AlphaGo Lee: Game 2
Wednesday June 13, 2018
Michael Redmond 9p, hosted by the AGA E-Journal’s Chris Garlock, reviews the second game of the new AlphaGo Zero vs.
AlphaGo Lee series. “In this game, AG Zero has black,” Redmond notes. “This is the 20-block version of Zero, and it’s pretty unique, especially in the way it plays with black: it really likes to play the 3-3 points. Zero likes to take territory up front and then reduce its opponent’s moyo, but it does so in a different way. In fact, the opening techniques used by Zero have become quite popular among some young professionals, showing AG’s effect on the game, which I’ll be talking about.”
Click here for Redmond’s video commentary, and see below for the sgf commentary. To support this content, please consider joining or renewing your membership in the American Go Association; click here for details.
Video produced by Michael Wanek and Andrew Jackson. The sgf files were created by Redmond, with editing and transcription by Garlock and Myron Souris.
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