Zen team to hold press conference November 9

[mitsun]

It is always fun to speculate how far we are from perfection. I have heard pros express confidence that they could beat God with something like 3-4 stones. So Alpha Go cannot continue to improve one stone per month for very much longer

[dfan]

So they said one rank a month until March 2016, extrapolating that continued rate of improvement to now seems a little optimistic without any evidence...

I know a month or two after the Lee Sedol match, I forget exactly when, there was that talk about new AlphaGo can give old AlphaGo 4 stones or something

That was a misinterpretation too.

[yoyoma]

I'm hoping they will be announcing a challenge match with a strong pro. The Zen team is Japanese so I would expect a Japanese opponent... Iyama Yuta?

The best point is Zen is a commercial program. They should be motivated to work on improving the program when running on regular home PC systems and selling that to all of us so we can benefit.

Now to stir things up a bit: If Zen beats Iyama Yuta, obviously some people will be quick to point out maybe he isn't the best in the world Of course I'm talking about AlphaGo! Imagine Zen challenges and beats AlphaGo. A nice way for the Deepmind team to exit a field that they don't seem keen to stay in, and for us to get some closure on that front. Is it possible that Zen is stronger than AlphaGo? Seems unlikely, but what do you think?

[pookpooi]

The best point is Zen is a commercial program. They should be motivated to work on improving the program when running on regular home PC systems and selling that to all of us so we can benefit.

Actually Zen is also very best at developing to run on home PC. Do you remember when Zenith Go 6 was released back in June?
Right now Zen running on a single core is one stone stronger than that version running on dual core.

[Jeromin]

Right now Zen running on a single core is one stone stronger than that version running on dual core.

Single processor, surely. Are there any single core pc for sale anymore?

[Krama]

Right now Zen running on a single core is one stone stronger than that version running on dual core.

Single processor, surely. Are there any single core pc for sale anymore?

You can give n cores to any software. So even if you have octacore processor you could allow zen to only use 1 core.

[Gomoto]

I justed wanted to buy the english version of Zen 6 to start a Jubango Zen vs. Crazy. (Could not find a match of the recent commercial releases on a single desktop yet).

I will hold on for a few days and wait for the press conference.

[pookpooi]

Press conference livestream at http://sp.live.nicovideo.jp/i18ngate/lv280070975
14:00 Japan Time

[yoyoma]

They put up a webpage for the event: http://denou.jp/go

Using google translate, it's Cho Chikun vs Zen in a 3 game match, even games.
November 19, 20, and 23.

2 hours + 3x60s byoyomi

[pookpooi]

The time setting is basically the same as Lee Sedol vs. AlphaGo matches.
Cho Chikun is very reasonable choice because Zen's strength is not at the top pro yet, and Cho Chikun was once the world's top players for a very long time. His fame will definitely hype the match. Second favorite choice in this situation is Kobayashi Koichi.
Also, very nice choice of commentators.

[Uberdude]

Cho is also a good choice for his sabaki inside moyo skills: when Zen has some big moyo on KGS I will sometimes kibitz "someone call Cho Chikun", and now they did! I think the recent neural net Zen might not be as extreme moyo style as it used to be though. Looking forward to the match, do we know broadcast details?

[pookpooi]

There's rule in pdf file in that website, I poorly translated it by Google and all I get is that there'll be game 3 even if two previous games are won by one side.

[Uberdude]

It was only in March this year that Zen played Kobayashi Koichi on 3 stones, and won by 4.5 points, see http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewto ... 18&t=12906.

[Drew]

This will be fun! I hope playing against an AI doesn't prevent Cho from slamming down a stone or two!

[Krama]

I wanna know when will we have the chess engine equivalent of go software.

Like droidfish that is based of stockfish 8 can be downloaded on androids and on a current hardware it is at GM level if not stronger.