Re: Scoring Go games

[Mousheng Xu <moushengxu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 12:23 PM 6/17/99 +0200, Patricia Hughes and David Elsdon wrote:
>Hi there,
>Now to the problem. Scoring the game is a real pain. My program is not
>very good at scoring yet and accurate scoring is important to the
>learning software. So does anybody know where I can find a scoring

Patricia,

	In some sense, a scoring function is ALL you need for a go program. These
two simple and easy algorithms should work:
	1. Brute-force evaluation -- after you calculate all the possibilities,
you will know the score. :)
	2. A quick estimation -- score(board) = #(black) - #(white). Very quick
evaluation.

	The 1st approach will give the exact score, which is excellent, but with a
slight limiation: too much time. The advantage of the 2nd approach is
obvious: quick. But it won't give you a good score.

	Although Antti Huima and you are proposing some "promising" AI method, I
still doubt your algorithms will work if you have not calculated the speed
of evolution of your programs. 9 x 9 & 19 x 19 are of huge difference --
it's the difference of a chess program and a go program. Why people bother
a 9 x 9 board?
	There is no personal offense here, just to show my opinion. :)
	Good luck, folks!


	


Mousheng Xu
Chiroscience R & D, Inc.