More often than not, the compensation you get for losing the ko is much bigger anyway..

I am looking forward to seeing pros react to these Alphago games. Especially these unprovoked attachments all over. Maybe Alphago would be even stronger if not doing these. I don't think so. Extremely interested in what the comments will say.

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If something sank it might be a treasure. And 2kyu advice is not necessarily Dan repertoire..

Agree, and agree

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be immersed

the alphago games are incredible beyond words. the level is so high, with so many brilliant new ideas. I can tell you the sharp attachments look like very clever probes, moving towards perfect play, and most of the games have sequences with inhuman reading power, so that no longer seems to be a weakness. it will be difficult to find its mistakes.

I found the games inspiring on the one hand - I just won the challengers tournament and will play uberdude in the final of the British championship. I played some very fun games influenced by ideas from alphago. I was bold enough andrelaxed enough to be creative with it. and it worked very well especially with my background of familiarity with its style. my level probably will jump at least a stone from understanding it's ideas.

though on the other, individual ambition into high level go loses some of its meaning. it will be a collaborative effort to understand alphago's moves. It would be nice to see a movement to react against some of its style though, so there is some counterpoint.

I will work on the usual reviews of my games and then alphago self play in the summer as exams are next week. while I could be satisfied with master game reviews after about a week (I stopped because of the quality of Redmonds reviews), the self play reviews will take months or years with the depth and complexity.

It is more or less known for ages that the correct komi is 7.0, so there is no surprise in that department. As for AlphaGo, what I don't understand is why retire before playing the obvious last step: handi games against top pros.

What will be the benefit for professionals to play handicap games with regard to their "usual" job (that consists on even games) ?

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The really most difficult Go problem ever: https://igohatsuyoron120.de/index.htm
Igo Hatsuyōron #120 (really solved by KataGo)

Knowing and understanding more about the game maybe? Such as when playing in areas where the opponent has more stones, or the reverse? Also, since AlphaGo strongly positioned itself as a research project, it would be logical even if pros would not be that interested (but I'm sure they would).

It has been more or less known by a relatively few players that practical komi for modern pros is around 7, for about 40 years. Even in dog years, that's hardly ages. And the Nihon Kiin only changed to a 6.5 komi in this century. There was a distinct possibility that a komi of 7.5 would favor Black in AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo games.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Sure, the possibility was there, esp since MC games are quite different from what we know so far, maybe komi-wise as well. Still the actual results agree with our current knowledge.

If the possibility was there, then our current knowledge was not knowledge of correct komi.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.