Re: computer-go: Why Ko

[Heikki Levanto <heikki@xxxxxx>]

On Thu, Jun 21, 2001 at 03:29:49PM +0100, Joshua Berryman wrote:
> I know ko is supposed to be one of the most subtle and important aspects
> of the game, but its a funny rule in that no-one can gain anything by
> breaking it: 
> 
> If you take the rule as `never repeat a previous board state' then if a
> program does do this then wahey! its back to square one. :)

That is the problem, exactly. If both programs believe taking the ko is the
best move on board, the game never ends. Humans are supposed to realize this
after a few repetitions, and come up with something, for example voiding the
game or defining a rule to prevent such problems. Programs tend to repeat
for ever...
 

-- 
Heikki Levanto  LSD - Levanto Software Development   <heikki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>