American Go E-Journal » Computer Go/AI

Barely a year after AlphaGo bested Lee Sedol 9P in Seoul, the go-playing AI program has set the global go community abuzz again with plans for a new match, this time against Ke Jie 9P, the top player in the world.

From May 23-27, DeepMind will collaborate with the China Go Association and Chinese Government to bring AlphaGo, China’s top go players, and leading A.I. experts from Google and China together in Wuzhen, one of the country’s most beautiful water towns, for the “Future of Go Summit.”

“Instead of diminishing the game, as some feared, artificial intelligence (A.I.) has actually made human players stronger and more creative,” said DeepMind in its announcement. “It’s humbling to see how pros and amateurs alike, who have pored over every detail of AlphaGo’s innovative game play, have actually learned new knowledge and strategies about perhaps the most studied and contemplated game in history.”

“AlphaGo’s play makes us feel free, that no move is impossible. Now everyone is trying to play in a style that hasn’t been tried before,” said Zhou Ruiyang 9P.

The summit will feature a variety of game formats involving AlphaGo and top Chinese players, specifically designed to explore the mysteries of the game together. The games will include “Pair Go,” a game where one Chinese pro will play against another…except they will both have their own AlphaGo teammate, alternating moves, to take the concept of ‘learning together’ quite literally. “Team Go” — A game between AlphaGo and a five-player team consisting of China’s top pro players, working together to test AlphaGo’s creativity and adaptability to their combined style.

Of course, the centerpiece of the event will be a classic one-on-one 3-game match between AlphaGo and the world’s number one player, Ke Jie 9P, to push AlphaGo to its limits. Interspersed with the games will be a forum on the “Future of A.I.”

Meanwhile, the American Go Association’s video commentaries on the January AlphaGo/Master games continue. Nine commentaries have been posted so far, by Michael Redmond 9P (hosted by Chris Garlock) and Jennie Shen 2P (hosted by Andrew Jackson), with new posts — and new pros — planned for each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

photo: Ke Jie [far right], along with Nie Weiping [next to Ke Jie], Fan Hui [standing] and Gu Li [far left], replays the opening moves of one of AlphaGo’s games with Lee Sedol from memory to explain the beauty of its moves to Google CEO Sundar Pichai during a visit he made to Nie Weiping’s Go school in Beijing last year.

In the latest video commentary in the AGA’s Master Review series, Michael Redmond 9P, hosted by Chris Garlock, takes a look at a game between Master and Park Jungwhan.

The top Korean player is usually placed second to Ke Jie in the world ranking systems. “In this game Master shows some very strong fighting on the lower side,” says Redmond.

Man is pitted against machine as the DeepMind AI takes on go grandmaster Lee Sedol in ALPHAGO, a brand-new documentary that will have its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca film festival in New York City later this month. Director Greg Kohs’ absorbing documentary chronicles Google’s DeepMind team as it prepares to test the limits of its rapidly-evolving AI technology. Kohs and his team were on hand last year in Seoul to document the historic battle with more at stake than the million dollar prize, and the film “reveals as much about the workings of the human mind as it does the future of AI.” ALPHAGO screens April 21, 23, 24 and 26; click here for details and tickets.

In the latest AGA Master Review Series, Jennie Shen 2P, hosted by Andrew Jackson, translates Meng Tailing 6P’s commentary and adds her own analysis of Master/AlphaGo’s game against Tang Weixing 9P.

And in the latest Redmond’s Reviews, Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock, American Go E-Journal Managing Editor, review Redmond’s recent Kiriyama Cup match against Kobayashi Izumi 6p. See the game record below for additional comments/variations. Both videos are produced by Andrew Jackson and Michael Wanek

In the latest in the AGA Master Review Series,  Michael Redmond 9P, hosted by Chris Garlock, takes a look at the game between Master 9P and Lian Xiao 7P (click here or below). “Lian Xiao is ranked among the top ten players in the world,” Redmond says. “He has a strong fighting style. In this game Master/AlphaGo plays a truly unorthodox move early in the game, and goes ahead to take control.”

“I could not find any obvious mistakes to blame for Lian losing the game,” says Redmond, “but think that he placed too much emphasis on local fights while falling behind in the overall position.” As usual, the sgf file here has additional variations.

The latest in the AGA Master Review Series features Jennie Shen 2P’s translation of Meng Tailing 6p’s commentary on Master’s game against Park Junghwan 9p — Game 24 in Master’s 60-game series — and Michael Redmond 9P’s commentary on Master’s game against Meng Tailing (Game 9). At right is Redmond’s sgf commentary, which includes additional variations.

“I have taken note that some people are requesting longer videos in the comments, and I can assure you that in some cases I will be doing longer commentaries,” Redmond posted  last week. “In the case of the Master games, Master is outstanding in the opening, and the power of it’s different yet effective moves has the potential to change how we pros think about fuseki. One of my motives in making these videos was to voice my opinion about these new ideas, and therefore I want to focus on the early parts of the games. Master usually takes the lead early in the game, so that also is a factor in my choice to comment on the openings. I also believe that while I could squeeze in a lot of information, it can be difficult for the viewer to digest a lot of new ideas at once, and a large number of short videos is more effective as a learning tool than a small number of long videos.” Redmond added that “In my Redmond Reviews, I will be commentating more on human games, some of them my own. Humans make mistakes, which can be painful for the players but will give me more opportunities to go through to later stages in the games, and more drama late in the games for the viewers to enjoy.”

In the latest video in this new series Michael Redmond 9p and Chris Garlock of the AGA E-Journal provide commentary and analysis of the fourth game of Master (AlphaGo). The opening in this game, in which Master plays white against Xie Erhao 4p, resembles the Kobayashi opening.

“However,” says Redmond, “Master plays the move that we thought to be bad, and goes ahead and makes it work.” Check out the sgf file at right for additional commentary. Xie Erhao was born in 1998, and went to the Mlily Cup semifinals in 2012. “He has since been in the top group of Chinese players, and is a player worth watching in the next few years,” says Redmond.