Go Tournament

Peter Langston psl at harpo.UUCP
Tue Sep 6 10:11:04 AEST 1983


			  
			  
			  ANNOUNCING
			The First Ever
			    USENIX
			   COMPUTER

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	      A B C D E F G H j K L M N O P Q R S T

	  19  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  19
	  18  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  18
	  17  + + + O @ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  17
	  16  + + + O + + + O + @ + + + + + @ + + +  16
	  15  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  15
	  14  + + O O + + + O + @ + + + + + + + + +  14
	  13  + + @ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  13
	  12  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  12
	  11  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  11
	  10  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  10
	   9  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  9
	   8  + + + + + + + + + + + + + O O O O @ +  8
	   7  + + O @ + + + + + + + + + O @ @ @ @ @  7
	   6  + + @ O O + + + + + + + + + O O O @ +  6
	   5  + + O + + + + + + + + + + + + O @ @ +  5
	   4  + + + O + + + + + + + + + + + O @ + +  4
	   3  + + @ @ + @ + + + + + + + + @ @ O @ +  3
	   2  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  2
	   1  + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +  1

	      A B C D E F G H j K L M N O P Q R S T


To be held during the Summer 1984 Usenix conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.


Probable Rules
-------- -----

1)  The board will be 19 x 19.
This size was chosen rather than one of the smaller boards because there
is a great deal of accumulated Go "wisdom" that would be worthless on
smaller boards.

2)  The board positions will be numbered as in the diagram above.
The columns will be labeled 'A' through 'T' (excluding 'I') left to right.
The rows will be labeled '19' through '1', top to bottom.

3)  Play will continue until both programs pass in sequence.
This may be a trouble spot, but looks like the best approach available.
Several alternatives were considered: (1) have the referee decide when
the game is over by identifying "uncontested" versus "contested" area;
(2) limit the game to a certain number of moves; all of them had one or
another unreasonable effect.

4)  There will be a time limit for each program.
This will be in the form of a limit on accumulated "user" time (60 minutes?).
If a program goes over the time limit it will be allowed some
minimum amount of time for each move (15 seconds?).
If no move is generated within the minimum time the game is forfeit.

5)  The tournament will use a "referee" program to execute each competing
pair of programs; thus the programs must understand a standard set of
commands and generate output of a standard form.

    a) Input to the program.  All input commands to the program will be
      in the form of lines of text appearing on the standard input and
      terminated by a newline.
	1) The placement of a stone will be expressed as letter-number
	  (e.g. "G7").  Note that the letter "I" is not included.
	2) A pass will be expressed as "pass".
	3) The command "time" means the time limit has been exceeded and
	  all further moves must be generated within the shorter minimum
	  time limit.
    b) Output from the program.  All output from the program will be in the
      form of lines of characters sent to the "standard output" (terminated
      by a newline) and had better be unbuffered.
	1) The placement of a stone will be expressed as letter-number,
	  as in "G12".  Note that the letter "I" is not included.
	2) A pass will be expressed as "pass".
	3) Any other output lines will be considered garbage and ignored.
	4) Any syntactically correct but semantically illegal move (e.g. spot
	  already occupied, ko violation, etc.) will be considered a forfeit.

The referee program will maintain a display of the board, the move history,
etc.

6)  The general form of the tournament will depend on the number of
participants, the availability of computing power, etc.  If only a few
programs are entered each program will play every other program twice.
If many are entered some form of Swiss system will be used.

7)  These rules are not set in concrete ... yet; this one in particular.


Comments, suggestions, contributions, etc. should be sent via uucp
to harpo!psl or via U.S. Mail to Peter Langston / Lucasfilm Ltd. /
P.O. Box 2009 / San Rafael, CA  94912.



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