A lot of this interesting discussion has been about whether humans can make use
of extra time. Some participants ( such as Dave Devos ) believe that, after a
certain point, humans cannot
improve their rank, at least not linearly with respect to time alloted. Fair
enough; we humans require sleep, and we are not particularly good at sustaining
complex thought over long periods, especially when a great deal of memorization
is required.
But this is a "computer go" list. How about computers? Can a computer make
effective use of long time controls? We can actually experiment with two
computer opponents with different time controls and know that ( unless the
programs are devised to "ponder" on their opponent's clock ), one program will
have x time, the other 10x to work with. Given sufficient time and resources,
we could give an approximate answer to the question "for a given computer
program, an x-fold increase in thinking time will yield y elo points
improvement."
Of course, we'll also have to consider memory limitations. Some programs will
gain little from extra time; some will run into memory limits before the clock
expires; others may be more scalable.
As for my own human anecdote, I am slowly making some progress from about 8kyu
AGA to 6kyu AGA or thereabouts. I've always been stronger at tactics than
strategy, making the most progress in the middle game. One method which has
helped me win quite a few games against dan-level players, at handicaps smaller
than the difference in our ranks would indicate, is to deliberately muddy the
waters, to make the games as complex as possible, with numerous battles which
intersect with each other.
Dan-level players outmanuever me strategically, and almost always out-read me
on any individual battle - but when the waters are muddied enough, they'll lose
focus and spend a lot more time per move. I do think on my opponents' time, and
by the time he works out a move, I already have a good counterplay lined up.
All I need is one lapse, one tesuji to yank 20 or 30 points from my opponents -
enough turn the tables. Unfortunately, I lack the strategic depth; if my
opponent can stay cool and not make errors, I'll not be able to upset him.
Which leads me to wonder if, at some future date when enough processors and
memory are available, go programs might be able to leverage the advantage of
depth of reading and sufficient memory to handle complex interactions into
winning strategies.
By the way, for those of you developing in Java, Azul Systems has created a
custom JVM with 48 processors on a single chip, and a few other tweaks which
look real promising:
http://www.azulsystems.com
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