American Go E-Journal » Computer Go/AI

In this game, “the attacking side suddenly abandons the attack and sacrifices some stones,” says Michael Redmond 9P in his latest AlphaGo game commentary with Chris Garlock. “The attack sort of disappears into thin air.” At the same time, the defending side is trying to sacrifice some stones as well, “so it’s a very unusual fight,” Redmond says, “it wouldn’t happen among human players, I don’t think.” Oh, “And the endgame gets a bit exciting, too.”

The commentary originally streamed live on the AGA’s Twitch channel; follow it to get notified of upcoming live streams.

More than 13,000 viewers — a new record for the AGA’s Twitch channel — tuned in for Thursday night’s Twitch broadcast featuring Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock discussing their new book “Alphago to Zero” and reviewing a game from the historic 2016 showdown between the world champion and the DeepMind AI. “Their passion for this game is infectious,” said CalmExit. The two talked about what it was like to provide the English-language commentary for the 2016 match for a global audience with intense media attention, and took questions from viewers. Chayashida wondered about “Michael and Chris’s thoughts, looking back, four years later…on the actual match as well as how AI has changed the game in the past 4 years.” And sam83a wondered “Does Michael plan writing other books using AI other than this 4-volume series? For example revisiting his san ren sei book, or analyzing historical classical games.” Check out the video to hear the answers to those questions and more, as well as Redmond’s review of Game 4 — chosen by a viewer poll — of the AlphaGo-Lee Sedol match. “I absolutely love how much Redmond loves the game,” said Trevoke. Stephen Hu produced the stream.

Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock, who teamed up four years ago to comment the historic AlphaGo-Lee Sedol match in Seoul, will appear on the AGA’s Twitch channel Thursday night at 7p EDT to discuss the match and their brand-new e-book AlphaGo to Zero.

“When AlphaGo defeated Lee Sedol, some said it was the end of go,” Redmond and Garlock say in the book’s introduction. “As we have seen since then, it is rather more likely that in many ways the game has just begun.”

The two will discuss the book with viewers, and will take another look at some of the games from the match, with questions and comments from viewers. “Being able to interact with viewers in real time is a real treat,” says Garlock. “We’re really looking forward to it!”

Chocolates and flowers are popular Valentine’s Day gifts but what go players really want is another AlphaGo game commentary and Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock deliver with their latest AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo game commentary, Game 36 of the series, going up on the AGA’s YouTube Channel at noon today, a bit earlier than the usual 6p release time.

“The most interesting thing to me about this game is the way AlphaGo handles ladders,” says Redmond. “Earlier versions seemed to have some trouble with them, but not AG and in this game, AlphaGo devises some original ways to handle them.” Redmond poses a number of problems for Garlock to solve, and the Twitch audience — the commentary was originally streamed live on the AGA’s Twitch channel — gets involved. Follow the AGA’s Twitch channel and get notified of live streams.

Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock return to the AGA’s Twitch channel tonight at 7p EDT with their latest live game commentary on the AlphaGo vs AlphaGo series. ” Entertaining and enlightening review,” commented SpaceTimeMachine on the previous commentary. “I recommend this series to my friends all the time.”