A NEW HEURISTIC SEARCH ALGORITHM FOR CAPTURING PROBLEMS IN GO¹

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Chen, Keh-Hsun | Zhang, Peigang²

Affiliations: Charlotte, USA

Note: [1] This article is a slightly adapted version of the authors’ article in the CG’06 conference proceedings. It is republished with permission of the Editors of the Proceedings and of the publisher, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany.

Note: [2] Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC, USA. Email: chen@uncc.edu, pzhangl@uncc.edu

Abstract: We propose a highly selective heuristic search algorithm for capturing problems in Go. This iterative deepening search works on the crucial chain in which the prey block is located. The algorithm starts using three order liberties of the chain as the basis of the position evaluation, the value is then adjusted by the presence of few liberty-surrounding opponent blocks. The algorithm solved most capturing problems in Kano’s four volumes of graded Go problems. Moreover, it is fast enough to be used by Go programs in real time.

DOI: 10.3233/ICG-2006-29402

Journal: ICGA Journal, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 183-190, 2006