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Date: 21 Jul 2007 00:57:10
From: OlimpBase
Subject: Computers crack checkers!
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It could be a case of game over for draughts - scientists say the ancient
board game has finally been solved. A Canadian team has created a computer
program that can win or draw any game, no matter who the opponent is. It
took an average of 50 computers nearly two decades to sift through the 500
billion billion possible draughts positions to come up with the solution.
Writing in the journal Science, the team said it was the most challenging
game solved to date.
read more at http://www.olimpbase.org
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Date: 21 Jul 2007 04:56:35
From: help bot
Subject: Re: Computers crack checkers! Red wins in 324 moves... .
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On Jul 20, 6:57 pm, "OlimpBase" <easy_to_gu...@really.org > wrote:
> It could be a case of game over for draughts - scientists say the ancient
> board game has finally been solved. A Canadian team has created a computer
> program that can win or draw any game, no matter who the opponent is. It
> took an average of 50 computers nearly two decades to sift through the 500
> billion billion possible draughts positions to come up with the solution.
> Writing in the journal Science, the team said it was the most challenging
> game solved to date.
>
> read more athttp://www.olimpbase.org
I'm not sure why it is that so many people are having
difficulties in reading and understanding these articles;
to me, the use of "solved" to mean only partly solved
was not a big problem, though I think it was a very poor
choice of words.
These guys seem to have figured out the equivalent
of our very own endgame tablebases, for positions
with ten or fewer checkers on the board. Not a big
deal when you consider that each game starts with
over twice that many on. There is way too much hype
out there... .
-- help bot
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Date: 21 Jul 2007 14:35:18
From: David Kane
Subject: Re: Computers crack checkers! Red wins in 324 moves... .
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"help bot" <nomorechess@hotmail.com > wrote in message
news:1185018995.571475.5370@x40g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> On Jul 20, 6:57 pm, "OlimpBase" <easy_to_gu...@really.org> wrote:
>> It could be a case of game over for draughts - scientists say the ancient
>> board game has finally been solved. A Canadian team has created a computer
>> program that can win or draw any game, no matter who the opponent is. It
>> took an average of 50 computers nearly two decades to sift through the 500
>> billion billion possible draughts positions to come up with the solution.
>> Writing in the journal Science, the team said it was the most challenging
>> game solved to date.
>>
>> read more athttp://www.olimpbase.org
>
>
> I'm not sure why it is that so many people are having
> difficulties in reading and understanding these articles;
> to me, the use of "solved" to mean only partly solved
> was not a big problem, though I think it was a very poor
> choice of words.
>
> These guys seem to have figured out the equivalent
> of our very own endgame tablebases, for positions
> with ten or fewer checkers on the board. Not a big
> deal when you consider that each game starts with
> over twice that many on. There is way too much hype
> out there... .
>
>
> -- help bot
You misunderstand. They have also found that it is possible
from the starting position to force the game into
a drawn tablebase position. Hence, the game *is* solved.
It is only unsolved in that they have not determined perfect play from
every legal position.
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