2001 Garosu Cup, Seoul, Korea

This is a new World Computer Go Championship organized by Seoul National University college of engineering and Korean Baduk association. It is sponsored by Garosu.com.

The competition was well-organized, with lots of computers and student game monitors. The organizers paid for 3 days stay in a Korean style hotel at SNU.

There was a preliminary competition on the first day, and a full round robin of the 8 finalists on the second day.

To finish so many games in the time allotted, many programs played two games simultaneously.

Prize money (in Korean Won) was:

1: 15 Million (about 13,000 US dollars)
2: 10 Million
3: 5 Million
4: 3 Million
5: 2.5 Million
6: 2 Million
7: 1.5 Million
8: 1 Million

28 programs applied to the competition, but only 18 actually participated. There should be more next year. KCC Igo, from North Korea, was invited, but chose not to participate, since there was not enough time to prepare.

The tie breaker is unusual. The first tie breaker is the result of the head-to-head game, which breaks any two way tie. In the case of a three way tie, the total time used by the program in all matches was specified.

For the preliminary competition, programs were divided into 4 groups. Six programs were seeded, and the rest had groups chosen by drawing lots. The top two programs in each group advanced to the finals. Unfortunately, 6 seeds in 4 groups meant that only the unseeded programs that were lucky enough to draw groups 1 or 2 had a shot at the final competition.

Seeds were:

1	Michael Reiss	Go4++	group 1
2	Chen Zhixing	Goemate	group 2
3	Lei Xiuyu	Wulu	group 3
4	David Fotland	Many Faces of Go	group 4
5	Fun Goo Park	Fungo	group 4
6	Kawa Ryuichi	Haruka	group 3

Results of the preliminaries:

Group 1:

1	Michael Reiss	Go4++	4 wins
2	Zhang Lianpeng	Northern star	3 wins
3	Won-ho Jee	GoMaster	2 wins
4		SNU1	1 win
5		SNU2	0 wins

Group 2:

1	Chen Zhixing	Goemate	4 wins
2		GMS	3 wins
3	Shinichi Sei	Katsunari	2 wins
4	Tamura Yukio	Image	1 win
5	Yong-kyun No	Paduk Invincible	0 wins

Group 3:

1	Kawa Ryuichi	Haruka	3 wins
2	Lei Xiuyu	Wulu	2 wins
3	Tristan Cazanave	Golois	1 win
4	Lu Jinqiang	Gostar	0 wins

Group 4:

1	Fun Goo Park	Fungo	3 wins
2	David Fotland	Many Faces	2 wins
3	Martin Mueller	Explorer	1 win
4	Feng Shaomin	Topgoer	0 wins

The final competition result was:

Goemate was the same version as in last November's Ing competition, since his current version is a little bit weaker. It was clearly the best program.

Seo Bongsu, 9 Dan professional, played a 9 stone game with Goemate, and granted it a Korean 9 Kyu diploma.

The next 5 programs are very close in strength. Many Faces beat Go4++ by only 7.5 points. Haruka lost to Go4++ by 0.5 points and beat Wulu by 0.5 points. In the Haruka-Wulu game, Wulu's last move was an unneccesary reinforcement, losing a point. Haruka would have beaten Go4++ with a 5.5 komi instead of the 6.5 komi used. Many Faces beat Haruka by only 6.5 points. Go4++ only beat Fungo by 9.5 points. In most of the games between these programs, the lead changed several times.

The last two programs generally lost their games by large margins.

Some game records

This report was provided by David Fotland