Re: computer-go: A problem with understanding lookahead

[Eric Pettersen <pett@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> No offense, but this is stupid.  It is completely clear that
> n-ply search with random evaluation always plays a uniform
> random move.

Sorry, but I think Vincent's right.  Assuming that the random scoring function has a normal distribution about some mean, then the best chance of getting a good score at an odd ply is when there are many moves available.  Conversely, the best chance of the opponent _not_ getting a good score (for the opponent) at an even ply is if the opponent has few moves to choose from.  So a random searches tends to return moves that result in many choices for the program and few for the opponent.

In Go, I'd say this would tend to promote the formation of point eyes that the opponent cannot play into (i.e. that have liberties elsewhere).
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			Eric Pettersen
			pett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
			http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/pett