Jonathan Schaeffer

computer perfection at checkers

One jump ahead

Cameron Browne

Akihiro Kishimoto

This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Advances in Computer Games, ACG 2021, which was held as a virtual event during November 23–25, 2021. The 22 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 34 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: learning in games; search in games; solving games; chess patterns; player modelling; and game systems.

17th International Conference, ACG 2021, Virtual Event, November 23–25, 2021, Revised Selected Papers

Advances in Computer Games

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Computers and Games, CG 2022, held virtually, during November 22–24, 2022. The 15 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: ​classic games, multi-player and multi-action games, solving games, measuring games, decision making in games and puzzles.

International Conference, CG 2022, Virtual Event, November 22–24, 2022, Revised Selected Papers

Computers and Games

Major advances in computing are occurring at an ever-increasing pace. This is especially so in the area of high performance computing (HPC), where today's supercomputer is tomorrow's workstation. High Performance Computing Systems and Applications is a record of HPCS'98, the 12th annual Symposium on High Performance Computing Systems and Applications. The quality of the conference was significantly enhanced by the high proportion of keynote and invited speakers. This book presents the latest research in HPC architecture, networking, applications and tools. Of special note are the sections on computational biology and physics. High Performance Computing Systems and Applications is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate-level course on computer architecture and networking, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

High Performance Computing Systems and Applications

Karsten Müller

Man vs. Machine Technology continues to advance at a rapid pace. It may sound quaint today, but not so long ago, computers battled humans for supremacy at the game of chess. The challenge of building a computer program capable of defeating the best of human-kind at chess was one of the original grand challenges of the fledgling field of artificial intelligence. On one side were dedicated scientists and hobbyists who invested decades of effort developing the software and hardware technology; on the other side were incredibly talented humans with only their determination and preparation to withstand the onslaught of technology. The man versus machine battle in chess is a landmark in the history of technology. There are numerous books that document the technical aspects of this epic story. The human side is not often told. Few chess players are inclined to write about their man-machine encounters, other than annotating the games played. This book brings the two sides together. It tells the stories of many of the key scientists and chess players that participated in a 50-year research project to advance the understanding of computing technology. “Grandmaster Karsten Müller and Professor Jonathan Schaeffer have managed to describe the fascinating history of the unequal fight of man against machine in an entertaining and instructive way. It evoked pleasant and not so pleasant memories of my own fights against the monsters. I hope that their work gives you as much pleasure as it has given me.” – From the Foreword by Vladimir Kramnik, 14th World Chess Champion

Challenging Human Supremacy at Chess

Man vs. Machine

Martin Müller

Yngvi Björnsson

The Computers and Games (CG) series began in 1998 with the objective of showcasing new developments in arti?cial intelligence (AI) research that used games as the experimental test-bed. The ?rst two CG conferences were held at Hamamatsu,Japan(1998,2000).ComputersandGames2002(CG2002)wasthe third event in this biennial series. The conference was held at the University of Alberta(Edmonton,Alberta,Canada),July25–27,2002.Theprogramconsisted of the main conference featuring refereed papers and keynote speakers, as well as several side events including the Games Informatics Workshop, the Agents in Computer Games Workshop, the Trading Agents Competition, and the North American Computer Go Championship. CG 2002 attracted 110 participants from over a dozen countries. Part of the successoftheconferencewasthatitwasco-locatedwiththeNationalConference of the American Association for Arti?cial Intelligence (AAAI), which began in Edmonton just as CG 2002 ended. The CG 2002 program had 27 refereed paper presentations. The papers ranged over a wide variety of AI-related topics including search, knowledge, learning, planning, and combinatorial game theory. Research test-beds included one-player games (blackjack, sliding-tile puzzles, Sokoban), two-player games (Amazons, awari, chess, Chinese chess, clobber, Go, Hex, Lines of Action, O- ello, shogi), multi-player games (Chinese checkers, cribbage, Diplomacy, hearts, spades), commercial games (role-playing games, real-time strategy games), and novel applications (Post’s Correspondence Problem).

Third International Conference, CG 2002, Edmonton, Canada, July 25-27, 2002, Revised Papers

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a decade since One Jump Ahead: Challenging Human Supremacy at Checkers was published. I’m delighted to have the oppor- nity to update and expand the book. The ?rst edition ended on a sad note and that was re?ected in the writing. It is now eleven years later and the project has come to a satisfying conclusion. Since its inception, the checkers project has consumed eighteen years of my life— twenty if you count the pre-CHINOOK and post-solving work. It’s hard for me to believe that I actually stuck with it for that long. My wife, Steph, would probably have something witty to say about my obsessive behavior. Rereading the book after a decade was dif?cult for me. When I originally wrote One Jump Ahead, I vowed to be candid in my telling of the story. That meant being honest about what went right and what went wrong. I have been criticized for being hard on some of the characters. That may be so, but I hope everyone will agree that the person receiving the most criticism was, justi?ably, me. I tried to be balanced in the storytelling, re?ecting things as they really happened and not as some sanitized everyone-lived-happily-ever-after tale.

Computer Perfection at Checkers

One Jump Ahead

This extraordinary book tells of the creation of the world-class checkers computer program, Chinook. From its beginnings in 1988, Chinook became a worthy opponent to the world champion and by 1992 had defeated all the worlds top human players. In his fascinating account, Jonathan Schaeffer, the originator and leader of the Chinook team, provides an engrossing story of failures and successes. He describes the human story behind Chinook and his own feelings in his continuous effort to improve the programs performance. We follow the development of Chinook from an innocent question asked over lunch, through to the final match against the then world champion, Marion Tinsley. As the story unfolds, readers are introduced to the rules of checkers and the basics of computer game programs, as well as to the key figures in the story. The culmination of this new edition expounds upon checker finally perfected and solved by Chinook ten years after the story was originally told.

Jonathan Schaeffer

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