Re: some ideas

[Heikki Levanto <heikki@xxxxxx>]

Henrik Rydberg (rydberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) wrote in lsd.compgo:

: As opposed to for instance Backgammon [1], Go is strictly
: deterministic, leading to some problems when applying
: algorithms such as temporal difference learning (TD).

I think the problem with go is not so much the determinism, but the
difficulty in evaluating positions. 

In Backgammon both players move closer to their goals on every move. A quick
estimate of the score can be done just by calculating the sum of the
distance each piece has to travel. Estimating risks is easy (counting
blotted pieces).

But in go, things are quite much more complex. Even a rough estimate of the
score is no easy thing to obtain, and group safety is indeed a hard nut to
crack.

- Heikki
  still dreaming of a TD-based go program

[1] Not mine...
-- 
Heikki Levanto  LSD - Levanto Software Development   <heikki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>