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AlphaGo Pair and Team Go wrap up

"Playing games like this will give us new ideas about how to play," said Gu Li 9P, after playing in the AlphaGo-Pair Go and commentating on the Team Go event. "It felt like four painters working together on a shared canvas," added AlphaGo Lead Researcher David Silver, "all with different styles, all combining together to make something truly beautiful.” In Pair Go, the first of the day’s matches on Thursday, top Chinese professionals Gu Li and Lian Xiao each had their own AlphaGo teammate, alternating moves in tag team style. In the second, Team Go, five of China’s top professional Go players had the unique challenge of working together to take on AlphaGo’s distinctive style.

In Pair Go, AlphaGo and its professional teammate agreed with each others’ moves - though they surprised each other from time to time too. In a sense, the match provided a glimpse of how human experts might be able to use AI tools in the future, benefiting from the program’s insights while also relying on their own intuition. The AlphaGo/Lian Xiao Pair Go team prevailed over AlphaGo/Gu Li, winning by resignation. Team Go provided a different but no less compelling challenge, requiring players to coordinate closely to make the most of the format. The professional teammates - Zhou Ruiyang, Chen Yaoye, Mi Yuting, Shi Yue and Tang Weixing - had access to their own study board to discuss and analyse variations, allowing them to draw on centuries of Go wisdom and styles as they debated strategies. They approached the challenge in a light-hearted manner, clearly enjoying the experience of playing together, and their resulting style was very balanced. In the end, AlphaGo, once again, won by resignation. "AlphaGo could actually broaden the horizon of Go playing," said Lian Xiao. "It could bring more imagination into Go.” The final game between AlphaGo and Ke Jie will be played at 10:30p EDT Friday night; DeepMind is streaming the matches live, posting match updates and expert commentaries every day on this page and on their Twitter account, @DeepMindAI. For more details, you can visit the official event page here- adapted from a report on the DeepMind AlphaGo website