[Newsletter] BGA Newsletter 231 June 2017

Jil Segerman jil.segerman at gmail.com
Sat Jun 10 20:09:54 BST 2017 

*Contributions for the Newsletter* are always welcome, both from our
members and others. We ask that they be Go-related and “newsy". The place
for debate and general discussion is currently Gotalk
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month.

Contributions to the *British Go Journal* are also welcome from players of
all grades, see British Go Journal Article Guidelines
<http://www.britgo.org/bgj/guidelines> and contact journal at britgo.org The
next Journal copy-date is not yet decided.

Jil Segerman, Newsletter Editor
NEWS

The full set of recent news items, including further details of some of the
items shown here, are on our News Pages <http://www.britgo.org/news>, and
on News Headlines <http://www.britgo.org/views/news>.
AlphaGo retires from competitive play

President Roger Huyshe writes:

DeepMind's AlphaGo <https://deepmind.com/research/alphago/> defeated the
world number one Ke Jie, and has brought completely new knowledge to the Go
world. DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis and David Silver made the stunning
announcement as the Future of Go Summit wrapped up in Wuzhen, China, saying
that the match against world #1 Ke Jie represented “the highest possible
pinnacle for AlphaGo as a competitive program” and would be the AI
program’s final match.

So how strong is AlphaGo? Silver revealed that DeepMind had measured the
handicap needed between different versions of the software. AlphaGo Fan
could give four stones to the previous best software, such as Zen or
CrazyStone, which had reached 6d. AlphaGo Lee, in turn, could give AlphaGo
Fan three stones, and AlphaGo Master, which at the new year achieved a
60-game undefeated streak against top pros before coming to this challenge,
is three stones stronger than AlphaGo Lee. This isn’t directly comparable
with human handicaps ‘though as it seems that part of the gap is due to new
versions of the program learning the weaknesses of predecessors. [Roger:
OK, just what are the weaknesses of AlphaGo Lee?]

DeepMind isn’t leaving the go community empty-handed, however. As a
“special gift to fans of Go around the world,” DeepMind is publishing a set
of 50 AlphaGo vs AlphaGo games, which Hassabis and Silver said “we believe
contain many new and interesting ideas and strategies for the Go community
to explore.”

Also, Hassabis said that “We’re also working on a teaching tool – one of
the top requests we’ve received throughout this week. The tool will show
AlphaGo’s analysis of Go positions, providing an insight into how the
program thinks, and hopefully giving all players and fans the opportunity
to see the game through the lens of AlphaGo. We’re particularly honoured
that our first collaborator in this effort will be the great Ke Jie, who
has agreed to work with us on a study of his match with AlphaGo. We’re
excited to hear his insights into these amazing games, and to have the
chance to share some of AlphaGo’s own analysis too.”

This was not the only new information Silver revealed about system. The
version playing Ke Jie is so much more efficient that it uses one tenth the
quantity of computation that Alphago Lee used, and runs on a single machine
on Google’s cloud.

“The research team behind AlphaGo will now throw their considerable energy
into the next challenges, developing advanced general algorithms that could
one day help scientists as they tackle some of our most complex problems,
such as finding new cures for diseases, dramatically reducing energy
consumption, or inventing revolutionary new materials,” Hassabis said.
BGJ 179 Now Available in Members Area

The Spring 2017 edition of the BGJ is now available for members to read.
UK Go Challenge Finals/Mindsports Academy 1st UK Mindsports Youth
Championships

Mindsports Academy are hosting a multi-sport event at Stoke City's football
ground on Saturday 8th July, including Chess, Go, Scrabble and Bridge. The
Go section consists of the regular UK Go Challenge Finals in the usual age
groups, but with an extra under-21 section. All games are played on 13x13.
The event will be free entry and prizes will be given to the best boy and
girl in each age group, as well as the UK Go Challenge overall winner
title. Check for details on the websites or email ukgoc at britgo.org.
Last Chance for Youth Residential Trip

Combining some serious study with outdoor and social activity, this is
aimed at ambitious young players at any level. Bookings must be in by 16th
June. See the Flyer
<http://www.britgo.org/files/2017/UK%20Youth%20Summer%20Go%20Camp%202017%20entry%20%20form%20v3.pdf>
Monthly 13x13 Tournaments in London

Central London Go Club has started a series of monthly rapidplay 13x13
tournaments on Saturday afternoons. The BGA Events Calendar
<http://www.britgo.org/tournaments> gives dates and information. Please
email colinlee at live.co.uk or phone 07789738854 to secure a place, as the
number of participants is very limited. The info link for the first
tournament (just gone) gives the entry fee £10 and mentions cash prizes for
the winner and runners up. In addition, organiser Colin has emailed: "We
have adopted the Xinyi Lu 13x13 trophy, courtesy of Andrew Kay. The winner
of the cup will be determined by the person who wins the tournament the
most times throughout the year."
Pair Go Annual Report

The annual report on Pair Go activity in Britain, and elsewhere, is
available online in pdf format
<http://www.britgo.org/files/pairgo/pair17uk.pdf>.
FUTURE EVENTS

   - Welsh Open, Saturday 24th - Sunday 25th June, Barmouth
   - Mindsports Academy youth event (UK Go Challenge Finals), Saturday 8th
   July, Stoke.
   - Central London Monthly 13x13 Tournament, Saturday 8th July
   - Belfast, Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd July
   - European Go Congress, Saturday 22nd July - Sunday 6th August, Oberhof,
   Germany
   - Leo Phillips Isle Of Man Go Festival, Sunday 30th July - Friday 4th
   August
   - Central London Monthly 13x13 Tournament, Saturday 12th August
   - Arundel, Sunday 13th August
   - Youth Training Residential, Monday 14th - Wednesday 16th August,
   Caythorpe Court, South Lincolnshire
   - Mind Sports Olympiad, Go 19x19 Sunday 20th August, London
   - Mind Sports Olympiad, Go 9x9 and 13x13 Monday 21st August, London
   - Central London Monthly 13x13 Tournament, Saturday 9th September
   - Penzance (Cornwall), Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th September
   - Strong Players' Training Weekend, Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th
   September, Letchworth
   - Swindon, Saturday 30th September
   - Northern, Saturday 14th October, Stockport
   - Central London Monthly 13x13 Tournament, Saturday 14th October
   - Wessex, Sunday 29th October, Bath
   - Three Peaks, Saturday 4th November - Sunday 5th November, Ingleton
   - Manchester 'Doki Doki' (Japanese Festival) , Saturday 11th November

Later

   - London Open, Thursday 28th – Sunday 31st December
   - Isle of Skye, Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd March

Overseas

The European Go Federation's Tournament Calendar
<http://www.eurogofed.org/calendar/calendar.htm> includes the Major
European Tournaments and a World Tournament Calendar
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