Go Go 囲碁! Computers are stupid, but they don't judge
I was not feeling well today, so I didn't go to the go club.
I have long avoided playing computer games because they are time sinks, and computer go proves to be as addictive as any other game. I am still not playing human players online as often as I should, but I am definitely improving against MFOG.
According to MFOG, I am now 9-10 kyu. I think this is an inflation of several stones, since I don't do nearly as well against human players at that rank. But I decided to test its ranking system.
Remember when I first started playing against MFOG, and even at the 18-kyu level (this is the level it plays at if you download the free version) it was often beating me? So, if I am 9 kyu now, I should be able to give it a 9-stone handicap and still win when it is playing at 18-kyu.
It turns out, I can!
This was a 9-stone handicap game (meaning I was white, and the computer got 9 stones to start). In the above game, you can see that at 18-kyu, the computer's limited look-ahead ability sometimes causes it to do very stupid things, e.g. that long line of black stones along the upper edge. Even a beginning human player will immediately see after putting down the first stone that there is no escape, but the computer played 9 before giving up. I won this game by 93.5 points. And it wasn't a fluke - I pretty consistently win by 70-80 points. The 18-kyu computer player that was so frustrating for me a few months ago is now a pathetically stupid opponent.
For ranked games, the computer now usually plays against me at the 9-kyu level, and I am winning about half the time. In the game below, I was black, the computer was MFOG (9 kyu), and I won by 10.5 points.
I know that computer go is a bad habit. I'm going to try to play more human players, honest.
Now, I am going to go do some writing tonight, I swear...
(And oh joy, my wrist has been bothering me lately and it really hurts tonight. I fear either excessive keyboard typing or jujutsu has damaged it.)
I have long avoided playing computer games because they are time sinks, and computer go proves to be as addictive as any other game. I am still not playing human players online as often as I should, but I am definitely improving against MFOG.
According to MFOG, I am now 9-10 kyu. I think this is an inflation of several stones, since I don't do nearly as well against human players at that rank. But I decided to test its ranking system.
Remember when I first started playing against MFOG, and even at the 18-kyu level (this is the level it plays at if you download the free version) it was often beating me? So, if I am 9 kyu now, I should be able to give it a 9-stone handicap and still win when it is playing at 18-kyu.
It turns out, I can!
This was a 9-stone handicap game (meaning I was white, and the computer got 9 stones to start). In the above game, you can see that at 18-kyu, the computer's limited look-ahead ability sometimes causes it to do very stupid things, e.g. that long line of black stones along the upper edge. Even a beginning human player will immediately see after putting down the first stone that there is no escape, but the computer played 9 before giving up. I won this game by 93.5 points. And it wasn't a fluke - I pretty consistently win by 70-80 points. The 18-kyu computer player that was so frustrating for me a few months ago is now a pathetically stupid opponent.
For ranked games, the computer now usually plays against me at the 9-kyu level, and I am winning about half the time. In the game below, I was black, the computer was MFOG (9 kyu), and I won by 10.5 points.
I know that computer go is a bad habit. I'm going to try to play more human players, honest.
Now, I am going to go do some writing tonight, I swear...
(And oh joy, my wrist has been bothering me lately and it really hurts tonight. I fear either excessive keyboard typing or jujutsu has damaged it.)