Life In 19x19

DrStraw wrote:

RBerenguel wrote: I wasn't confused, I know this weird gradation in English (in Spanish it is actually similarly formed, so it's probably common among many languages?), just wanted to add a minor joke to the conversation using the fact that indeed, English is quite a weird language and DrS a mathematician

Sorry. It went over my head. It made no sense to me so I ignored it.

No problem, it was silly, I know.

You guys are fun. I gave my head a shake and now can beat Cosumi, I was out of practice I suppose. Agree it might be about 5 Kyu. Will visit the online human vs human sites you recommended thanks!

Aidoneus wrote: Q: How many mathematicians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One: she gives it to three physicists, thus reducing it to a problem that has already been solved.

Q: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? [EDIT]just to come back to the subject, Cosumi level 5 blow me away on an 9x9 ...[/EDIT]

COSUMI is a strong Go-playing program for those below shodan level, especially at the highest levels of difficulty. Those 1d and higher may find it not too difficult to win against it even on the highest level of difficulty on 9x9 and 13x13 boards. I played a 19x19 game with 2-stone handicap against COSUMI and won by 38 points, while I have hardly been able to win against the same program on 9x9 board, at least at the higher levels of difficulty. (Though I lose all the time, I find this to be a good way to practice my tactical skills.)

Aidoneus wrote:In common English usage the expression "next highest" does not mean one step higher, it means one step lower.

Which means that next higher is higher than next highest.

Aidoneus wrote:For my math students:
"Quapropter bono christiano, sive mathematici, sive quilibet impie divinantium, maxime dicentes vera, cavendi sunt, ne consortio daemoniorum animam deceptam, pacto quodam societatis irretiant."
("Thus the good christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make false prophecies, however much they may in fact speak the truth; lest, being in league with the devil, they may deceive errant souls into making common cause.")
Augustinus (De genesis ad literam, Liber 2, Caput XVII, Nr. 37)

Back then astrologers were called mathematicians. Mercury "rules" both astrology and mathematics.

MDP wrote:You guys are fun. I gave my head a shake and now can beat Cosumi, I was out of practice I suppose. Agree it might be about 5 Kyu. Will visit the online human vs human sites you recommended thanks!

I can beat Cosumi and I'm around 8k, but its pretty close. I'd estimate it in the 8k-10k range.

I lost twice on 9x9. But win on 19x19. Overall I found it doing nice looking moves. Wonder on what the engine is based.

I just started playing COSUMI. I like that it has an HTML5 mode so I don't have to worry about Flash versions.

I'm somewhere around 14k. It was giving a bit of a run on 9x9 at Level 0, but I am now winning by more than komi more often than not. Against Level 1 on 13x13, I am also wining more than losing. I'll have to try a few games at 19x19, but I would estimate Level 1 around 15k. Level 0 may be Level 1 without komi and taking White. The play feels similar.

I'm playing cosumi on 9x9.

This is a typical situation (I'm black).



I know a competent player would either smother the white stone on the right or squeeze the group on the left. But maybe the horse is out of the barn and I made an error one or two stones ago...

But it will be a great satisfaction when I will be able to consistently call cosumi's bluffing. For now my success rate is 1/20, 1/10 if I'm rested.

BDV wrote:I'm playing cosumi on 9x9.

This is a typical situation (I'm black).

$$Bc
$$ +-------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X x . O . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . O X x . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +-------------------+

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ +-------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X x . O . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . O X x . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +-------------------+[/go]

I know a competent player would either smother the white stone on the right or squeeze the group on the left. But maybe the horse is out of the barn and I made an error one or two stones ago...

But it will be a great satisfaction when I will be able to consistently call cosumi's bluffing. For now my success rate is 1/20, 1/10 if I'm rested.

Well, my initial gut reaction is, that if you tried to attack the lone white stone on the right or squeeze the four white stones on the left, you would get cut to shreds at the marked weaknesses in your shape.

First you must defend your own shape before attacking -- "Close fist before striking"

On the other hand, with a little (very little) deeper thought... perhaps you could offer your lower black stone as a sacrifice as you attack the lone white stone on the right to build up your upper side strength somehow. Because, if you tried to connect the lower stones now, your shape would be over concentrated, leaving white to wreak havoc along the right side, squeezing you to nothing in the center.

Not stronger than 10k!

I think Cosumi is about 5k or 6k on the 19 × 19 board, or perhaps a bit weaker. I may be overestimating my own strength, because I have not played for some years. I used to be 3k on KGS.

Some interesting questions are:

Is the go engine running on their server or on your computer?

If the latter, is it written in JavaScript?

Is the game just slower on a slower computer or does it adapt and becomes weaker instead? (Messages here indicate the former.)

Inspecting the page, I see that it uses Google Analytics and jQuery (not exactly a favorite of mine). And there is a fairly big, minified script named play.js. I looked into it to see whether it uses Ajax or a Websocket to obtain its wisdom from a go-playing server or whether it actually plays on its own, but due to the compacted code I spent only very little time on this and then gave up.

If it really plays faster on faster computers, that would be a strong indication that it plays on its own, i.e. the go-playing computer program is actually running in your web browser.

Likely to be below 5k. I gave it 9 stones and won easily.

Bill Spight wrote:

Aidoneus wrote:For my math students:
"Quapropter bono christiano, sive mathematici, sive quilibet impie divinantium, maxime dicentes vera, cavendi sunt, ne consortio daemoniorum animam deceptam, pacto quodam societatis irretiant."
("Thus the good christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make false prophecies, however much they may in fact speak the truth; lest, being in league with the devil, they may deceive errant souls into making common cause.")
Augustinus (De genesis ad literam, Liber 2, Caput XVII, Nr. 37)

Back then astrologers were called mathematicians. Mercury "rules" both astrology and mathematics.

I was surprised by the above quote and, looking for information about it, found this blog post: http://cantanima.blogspot.cl/2006/03/au ... cians.html