computer-go: GNU Go 3.0

[Daniel Bump <bump@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following message is a courtesy copy of an article
that has been posted to rec.games.go as well.


GNU Go 3.0 has been released in the form of a tarball
called gnugo-3.0.0.tar.gz at ftp.gnu.org. This program
can give GNU Go 2.6 a four stone handicap.

Although GNU Go is still weaker than the strongest
programs, it is getting stronger quickly. We've
devoted a lot of work to life and death and it is
sometimes quite clever. This summer, for the first
time, it participated in international tournament play.

In the 21st Century Cup held at the US Go Congress,
GNU Go placed 8th in a field of 12 programs. This may 
not sound impressive but actually we were satisfied
with its performance. GNU Go won 3 out of 6 games and
two of the games it lost were close. Moreover it
scored an upset win over former Ing Champion program
Wulu.

In the European Championship GNU Go placed second,
winning 5 out of six rounds, and losing only to 
the undefeated GoAhead.

http://www.irisa.fr/prive/Tanguy.Urvoy/gnugo/gnugo-goahead.jpg

For more information, see GNU Go's web pages at:

http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo/gnugo.html
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo/devel.html

Daniel Bump