From: Sam Sloan ISHIPRESS COM> Date: 13 jun 2003 Subject: Re: Report on the 13th World Computer Shogi Championships If you can ever find Henk Rogers, he has perhaps the last surviving copy of the Computer Shogi Program which I wrote in 1984. If I can ever get my program back, I will enter it in these computer shogi championships. I left the program on a disk in Henk's Office as I was leaving Japan in 1984. Henk Rogers is a very well known and famous programmer and go player, but I have never been able to locate him. Sam Sloan At 05:22 PM 6/13/2003 +0900, Reijer Grimbergen wrote: >Hi all > >Here is my report on the 13th World Computer Shogi Championships. >Results were already posted earlier by Takizawa-san. I also took some >pictures during the tournament. If you want to see these together with >the text below, here is the link: > >http://www.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp/~grimberg/SHOGI/articlesmain.html > >Reijer > >*************************************************************************** ****************** > > >The 13th CSA World Computer Shogi Championship >============================================== >Kazusa Academic Park, Kisarazu, Japan >May 3-5, 2003 > >Introduction >============ > >Again the Kazusa Academic Park in Kisarazu was the venue for the >computer shogi championships. Already the 13th edition and definitely >one of the biggest games events in the world. The number of participants >had dropped slightly to 45 compared to 51 last year. This may be in part >because of the date of this tournament, which is in the middle of one of >the few major holidays in Japan. > >This year my program SPEAR and the North Korean program KCC were the >only foreign entries. Unfortunately Jeff Rollason had to pass on the >tournament this year, as he was in the process of starting up a new >company and couldn't find the time to come to Japan (or even work at his >program Shotest). The programmers of KCC also had decided not to show up >themselves this tournament and their program was operated by two >Japanese operators from the company that publishes the commercial >version of the KCC program. This was probably a wise decision as the >relations between Japan and North Korea are quite strained at the moment >over the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea in the past and >the Korean nuclear program. There were even fears that there might be >demonstrations at the tournament venue, but computer shogi turned out >not to be big enough to draw the attention necessary for having an >effective demonstration. Or maybe the demonstrators couldn't find the >Kazusa Academic Park... > >I was quite optimistic entering the tournament. I had somehow managed to >find quite some time to work on my program and made many improvements. >Test results showed that my program was much better than last year's >version. It even regularly beat Todai Shogi, the commercial version of >multiple champion IS Shogi. I was lucky to be again seeded in the second >preliminary round despite dropping out last year. I was optimistic that >I would be able to defend this seeded position this year. A realistic >goal seemed to be a majority of wins and I was secretly hoping to get >into the finals with a little bit of luck. Things would not go as planned. > >The First Preliminary Stage >============================= > >Most eyes in the first preliminary round were on the program TACOS, made >by the students of Hiroyuki Iida's lab in Shizuoka. It didn't have >spectacular results in past years, but last year they seemed to have >made some kind of breakthrough as they scored an upset win in the >Olympiad against IS Shogi and followed this up with strong play in a >small computer shogi tournament at the Game Programming Workshop. TACOS >did not disappoint. It got second place in the first qualification round >with six wins and one loss. TACOS was especially strong in the endgame, >where it managed to come from behind two or three times. It only lost in >the final round against Sogin. > >Sogin won the first qualification group and this was also not a big >surprise. Sogin is a regular in the Computer Shogi Championships, >playing in the final a couple of times. Last year, Sogin programmer >Koizumi couldn't come to the tournament because of work-related reasons, >but his program is generally considered to be very strong. > >Third place in the group was for Bingo Shogi, a new program that played >this tournament like shogi programming is easy. More on Bingo Shogi >later, as it became the surprise of the tournament. > >The other programs that qualified for the second stage were K-Shogi, >Mattari-Yuu-chan, Ootsuki Shogi, Nazoteki Dengi and Kinoa Shogi. K-Shogi >and Mattari-Yuu-chan (a program from professor Kotani's lab) were also >first entries. Kinoa Shogi was very lucky to qualify for the next round, >since the final spot was actually taken by Oki. However, Oki's >programmer had to withdraw because of sudden severe stomach aches (the >stress of shogi programming?) and couldn't operate his program on the >second day. Kinoa Shogi would make the most of this opportunity by >playing much better on the second day than on the first day. > >Results of the first qualification round >---------------------------------------- >No. Program Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pt SOS SB MD >1* Sogin 9+ 3+ 7- 5+ 6+ 8+ 2+ 6.0 35.0 30.0 20.0 >2* TACOS 22+ 15+ 19+ 4+ 9+ 10+ 1- 6.0 26.5 20.5 13.5 >3* Bingo Shogi 8+ 1- 18+ 26+ 14+ 4+ 10+ 6.0 25.0 19.0 13.5 >4* K-Shogi 6+ 24+ 17+ 2- 10+ 3- 9+ 5.0 29.5 17.5 11.0 >5* Mattari-Yuu-chan 15+ 20+ 12+ 1- 7+ 6- 16+ 5.0 28.5 17.5 10.0 >6* Ootsuki Shogi 4- 16+ 26+ 12+ 1- 5+ 11+ 5.0 27.5 16.5 11.0 >7* Nazoteki Dengi 24+ 21+ 1+ 11+ 5- 9- 8+ 5.0 27.0 18.0 10.5 >8+ Oki 3- 12+ 23+ 18+ 13+ 1- 7- 4.0 29.5 12.5 6.5 >9*+ Kinoa Shogi 1- 25+ 24+ 13+ 2- 7+ 4- 4.0 28.5 11.5 5.5 >10 Suzu no Ne 25+ 18+ 11+ 14+ 4- 2- 3- 4.0 27.5 10.5 5.5 >11 Fuku Shogi 16+ 23+ 10- 7- 19+ 14+ 6- 4.0 24.5 10.5 5.5 >12 Maruyama Shogi 20+ 8- 5- 6- 22+ 19+ 17+ 4.0 24.0 10.0 5.0 >13 Sugi Shogi 14- 22+ 25+ 9- 8- 17+ 15+ 4.0 20.0 9.0 5.0 >14 Yamada Shogi 13+ 17+ 16- 10- 3- 11- 20+ 3.0 26.5 9.5 3.0 >15 Sexy-AI-chan 5- 2- 20+ 22+ 17- 16+ 13- 3.0 25.5 7.5 2.5 >16 Toshizo Shogi 11- 6- 14+ 24+ 18+ 15- 5- 3.0 24.0 7.0 2.5 >17 Demon Shogi 26+ 14- 4- 19+ 15+ 13- 12- 3.0 22.0 6.0 2.5 >18 Ujiie Shogi 23+ 10- 3- 8- 16- 20= 22+ 2.5 23.5 4.0 0.0 >19 Ryuma Shogi 21+ 26= 2- 17- 11- 12- 24+ 2.5 21.5 4.0 0.0 >20 HIT Shogi ver.0.01 12- 5- 15- 21+ 25+ 18= 14- 2.5 21.0 3.5 0.0 >21 Suzuki Shogi 19- 7- 22- 20- 26+ 24= 25+ 2.5 15.0 1.5 0.0 >22 Tsubakihara Shogi 2- 13- 21+ 15- 12- 23+ 18- 2.0 24.0 4.5 0.0 >23 GPS Shogi 18- 11- 8- 25+ 24- 22- 26+ 2.0 15.5 1.5 0.0 >24 Nagayoshi Shogi 7- 4- 9- 16- 23+ 21= 19- 1.5 24.0 2.0 0.0 >25 Narikin Shogi Step 10- 9- 13- 23- 20- 26+ 21- 1.0 19.5 0.5 0.0 >26 Sunada Shogi 4 17- 19= 6- 3- 21- 25- 23- 0.5 22.0 0.0 0.0 >* Sogin, TACOS, Bingo Shogi, K-Shogi, Mattari-Yuu-chan, Ootsuki Shogi, >Nazoteki Dengi, and Kinoa Shogi qualify for the second qualification >round. + Kinoa Shogi qualifies because Oki withdrew. > >The Second Preliminary Stage >============================ > >The second preliminary round was not expected to be a surprising one. >The general opinion was that YSS, Kanazawa Shogi, Kakinoki Shogi, and >Eisei Meijin would probably qualify (in that order of likelihood) and >there would be only one spot left to really fight for. Candidates for >this spot would be KFEnd, Hyper Shogi and maybe Ryu no Tamago, who >barely missed qualification last year. > >The first round went almost completely as expected, but the second round >saw a big upset as YSS lost to Usapyon. However, since all the other >games went as expected and the third round also didn't have any major >surprises, nobody was really prepared for what was to come. > >The fourth round will not be a pleasant memory for Kakinoki Shogi and >Kanazawa Shogi. Kakinoki Shogi was beaten by TACOS, while Kanazawa Shogi >lost to Ootsuki Shogi. In itself these were not insurmountable losses, >but they proved much more costly than YSS' loss against Usapyon. > >After round five there were no more undefeated programs, as Eisei Meijin >lost to KFEnd. With a little more than half of the tournament played, >the situation at the top was: > >1) Kakinoki Shogi, Eisei Meijin, YSS, KFEnd, Hyper Shogi 4 >6) Kanazawa Shogi, Ryu no Tamago, Usapyon, SPEAR, Sekita Shogi, TACOS, >Bingo Shogi, K-Shogi, Otsuki Shogi 3 > >At this point, SPEAR was still in the thick of it, and it had already >played Eisei Meijin and Hyper Shogi. > >In round six the status quo seemed to be restored, as Kanazawa Shogi >beat Hyper Shogi. All the other favorites won, except for Kakinoki >Shogi, which lost against co-leader Eisei Meijin. > >Starting with round 7, the pairing system used in this tournament >started to really influence the results. Rather than pairing programs >with relative weak opposition to programs with strong opposition, it >kept pairing the higher seeds against each other. First victim was >Kakinoki Shogi, which was paired against KFEnd and YSS in round 7 and 8, >lost both games and had no chance of qualification one round before the >end. The loss against TACOS did Kakinoki Shogi in and the program ended >in 8th place despite a huge SOS. > >Kanazawa Shogi also had a tough pairing in the final rounds, but their >fate was even more heartbreaking. The five times world champion had a >completely won game in the final round against KFEnd, but allowed >entering king and lost. After the game there was a stunned silence. The >unthinkable had happened: no Kanazawa Shogi in the final. > >TACOS also had reasons to feel bad about their pairing. They were paired >against all the top programs, had even more SOS than Kakinoki, but still >only finished in 7th place. A great performance by Iida's students, >which deserved more than just a pat on the back. They were probably the >most improved program this year and if they can keep this up, who knows >what will happen next year. > >Where there are people unlucky with the draw, there are people who are >lucky as well. Most notably was Bingo Shogi, which sneaked into the >final through the backdoor. It timed its losses perfectly, played only >KFEnd, Eisei Meijin and Hyper Shogi and with a final round win against >Sekita Shogi managed a 6-3 score and a lot of SOS points more than Isobe >Shogi, the other program at 6-3. Isobe Shogi is a strong program as it >showed in a final round victory against Eisei Meijin, but it was hardly >tested as Eisei Meijin was the only strong program it played. > >In the end KFEnd won the second qualification group with YSS in second >and Eisei Meijin in third place. The other two programs that qualified >for the final were Bingo Shogi and Hyper Shogi 9. > >And what about SPEAR? Hmmm. After a 3-2 start it lost four games in a >row. None of these were uneventful losses, but some general strategic >weaknesses of the program were painfully exposed. In the end SPEAR >finished even lower than last year, which was disappointing, but also >shows how much the average playing level of the programs has increased. > >Results of the second qualification round >----------------------------------------- >No. Program Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pt SOS SB MD >1* KFEnd 22+ 13+ 4+ 2- 3+ 7+ 8+ 11+ 9+ 8.0 47.0 39.0 30.0 >2* YSS 24+ 14- 7+ 1+ 10+ 15+ 3+ 8+ 5+ 8.0 43.0 39.0 31.0 >3* Eisei Meijin 20+ 5+ 13+ 4+ 1- 8+ 2- 9+ 6- 6.0 51.0 29.0 20.0 >4* Bingo Shogi 11+ 18+ 1- 3- 6+ 14+ 20+ 5- 10+ 6.0 46.5 26.5 17.5 >5* Hyper Shogi 9 17+ 3- 15+ 20+ 7+ 9- 11+ 4+ 2- 6.0 46.0 27.0 18.0 >6 Isobe Shogi 7- 21+ 24+ 13- 4- 10+ 16+ 20+ 3+ 6.0 36.0 21.0 15.0 >7 TACOS 6+ 12+ 2- 8+ 5- 1- 9- 16+ 13+ 5.0 51.0 24.0 14.0 >8 Kakinoki Shogi 18+ 11+ 16+ 7- 9+ 3- 1- 2- 12+ 5.0 49.5 22.5 14.0 >9 Kanazawa Shogi 10+ 16+ 21+ 15- 8- 5+ 7+ 3- 1- 5.0 46.0 23.0 14.0 >10 Sekita Shogi 9 9- 23+ 12+ 16+ 2- 6- 14+ 17+ 4- 5.0 44.0 19.0 12.0 >11 Ryu-no-Tamago 4- 8- 22+ 21+ 13+ 20+ 5- 1- 15+ 5.0 42.0 17.0 10.0 >12 Kinoa Shogi 21- 7- 10- 23+ 19+ 24+ 13+ 14+ 8- 5.0 31.5 13.5 9.5 >13 Nara Shogi 19+ 1- 3- 6+ 11- 17+ 12- 15+ 7- 4.0 46.5 17.5 8.0 >14 Usapyon 15- 2+ 17- 22+ 21+ 4- 10- 12- 20+ 4.0 41.0 17.0 6.0 >15 Ootsuki Shogi 14+ 24+ 5- 9+ 20- 2- 17+ 13- 11- 4.0 39.0 13.0 8.0 >16 Shoo 23+ 9- 8- 10- 18+ 22+ 6- 7- 19+ 4.0 38.0 12.0 6.5 >17 K-Shogi 5- 20- 14+ 18+ 22+ 13- 15- 10- 23+ 4.0 34.5 12.5 6.5 >18 Yano Shogi 6 8- 4- 23+ 17- 16- 21- 19= 24+ 22+ 3.5 30.5 5.0 2.0 >19 Nazoteki Dengi 13- 22- 20- 24+ 12- 23+ 18= 21+ 16- 3.5 27.5 5.0 2.0 >20 SPEAR 3- 17+ 19+ 5- 15+ 11- 4- 6- 14- 3.0 44.5 11.5 4.0 >21 Aoi10000+ 12+ 6- 9- 11- 14- 18+ 23- 19- 24+ 3.0 34.0 8.5 3.5 >22 Sogin 1- 19+ 11- 14- 17- 16- 24+ 23+ 18- 3.0 34.0 5.5 2.0 >23 Mattari-Yuu-chan 16- 10- 18- 12- 24+ 19- 21+ 22- 17- 2.0 31.0 3.0 0.0 >24 Oojiro 2- 15- 6- 19- 23- 12- 22- 18- 21- 0.0 38.0 0.0 0.0 >* KFEnd, YSS, Eisei Meijin, Bingo Shogi, and Hyper Shogi 9 qualify for >the finals. > >The Finals >========== > >After all the drama of the second day, the finals were a little bit of a >disappointment as there were no real surprises. Of the programs that >qualified from the preliminary round only YSS made a strong impact. >However, YSS can hardly be called a surprise, winning the tournament in >1997 and finishing runner-up in 1999 and 2000. Last year's bad result >was more of a surprise than YSS' performance this year. > > From the start, the finals were a race between IS Shogi and YSS. YSS >had set the pace early with a win in the first round against Gekisashi. >Both programs kept their perfect record for four rounds, even though IS >Shogi had a major scare in its game against Eisei Meijin. > >The fifth round was already more or less the tournament decider with IS >Shogi beating YSS. All the other programs were already far behind. >Gekisashi lost against KCC, ending all hopes of a second consecutive >title. KCC also wouldn't win, as a bug in the program made it happy with >a draw by repetition of moves even if its position was much better and >the repetition could be avoided easily. This bug led to draws in the >games against Hyper Shogi and Eisei Meijin. > >IS Shogi sealed the tournament victory one round before the end with a >win against KCC. In the end, this turned out to be a vital win, as IS >Shogi lost its final game against Gekisashi, allowing YSS to catch up. >For those who believe that machines have no emotions, it is interesting >to notice that it is the second year in a row that the winning program >loses in the final round after being sure of the tournament victory. > >Both IS Shogi and YSS ended with 6 wins, but IS Shogi had the higher SB >score to take the title. The important third place went to Gekisashi, >whose win against IS Shogi was just enough to send the Koreans back to >the preliminary rounds. The Gekisashi team will be very happy about >that, since the preliminary round is starting more and more to look like >a snake pit. > >Results of the finals >--------------------- >No. Program Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pt SB MD >1 IS Shogi 5+ 8+ 7+ 6+ 2+ 4+ 3- 6.0 17.5 10.5 >2 YSS 3+ 4+ 6+ 8+ 1- 5+ 7+ 6.0 16.0 10.5 >3 Gekisashi 2- 7+ 8+ 5= 4- 6+ 1+ 4.5 10.5 3.5 >4 KCC Shogi 8+ 2- 5= 7= 3+ 1- 6+ 4.0 7.5 2.0 >5 Hyper Shogi 9 1- 6+ 4= 3= 7- 2- 8+ 3.0 3.0 0.0 >6 KFEnd 7+ 5- 2- 1- 8+ 3- 4- 2.0 2.5 0.0 >7 Eisei Meijin 6- 3- 1- 4= 5+ 8- 2- 1.5 3.0 0.0 >8 Bingo Shogi 4- 1- 3- 2- 6- 7+ 5- 1.0 1.5 0.0 > >The Programs >============ > >IS Shogi: Losing the title to Gekisashi last year might have stung >Tanase, Kishimoto and Goto a little. They came back strong and are again >at the top of the computer shogi world. >YSS: A comeback year for YSS after the disappointing 2002 tournament. >Yamashita will be happy with his result, but he might have another look >at the game against Usapyon. >Gekisashi: Tsuruoka's group couldn't repeat their success this year. >They revolutionized shogi programming with their realization probability >approach but now suffer the consequences. The other programmers have >studied hard and are catching up. >KCC Shogi: The KCC team can point to the sennichite bug as the reason >for their slightly disappointing result. However, they wouldn't have won >anyway as they lost to both YSS and IS Shogi. At the moment it seems >that KCC has reached their limits and that they need something new to >make the final step. >Hyper Shogi 9: Tough program to beat and probably a regular in the >finals. Very stable program that doesn't extend itself, quietly waiting >for a chance. Against weaker programs this is very effective, but this >approach is not enough to beat the big names. >KFEnd: I am not so sure what to say about KFEnd. It's performance in the >preliminary group showed great potential, losing only to YSS. However, >somehow this didn't carry over to the finals. It almost makes one wonder >if the program partied deep into the night to celebrate qualification... >Eisei Meijin: Yoshimura will have been happy to be in the finals again, >but it would have helped sales a lot if he would have beaten one or two >of the strong programs. There was a good chance against IS Shogi, but >Eisei Meijin was just not strong enough to pull it off. >Bingo Shogi: Lucky to qualify for the finals, but without a little bit >of luck life would be very dull. Bingo Shogi beat Eisei Meijin in the >final and put up a tough fight in its other games, so this is no >ordinary program. Furthermore, since it was developed from scratch by >one person in only two years, the success of Bingo Shogi shows that it >is not necessary to spend a lifetime on shogi programming before one has >something decent. > >Conclusions >=========== > >The level of play in this tournament was very high. Reasonable programs >with only minor flaws (like SPEAR) will have no chance to get a good >result in the computer shogi world championships. Tactically, there is >not much room for improvement in computer shogi. The improvements needed >to challenge professionals are mainly about strategy. However, even in >this area it is already difficult to surprise the best programs. > >The Gekisashi algorithm has had many followers and has resulted in a >tough competition where veteran programs like Kakinoki Shogi and >Kanazawa Shogi are no longer certain of a spot in the finals. This will >only help to find further improvements and enhance the level of play. >There still seems to be a gap between the top three or four programs and >the rest, but I wouldn't be surprised if that gap would be closed by >next year. > >As for challenging the top human players, this goal is still a little >beyond the horizon. However, it is no longer a question of "if", but a >question of "when". After the tournament was over, Katsumata played a >two piece handicap game against IS Shogi. IS Shogi scored a very good >victory, which is a significant result. Beating a professional one on >one with two piece handicap is no small feat. Furthermore, Katsumata is >an expert on computer shogi, following the tournaments for years. He >knows how computers play shogi and how to take advantage of this. My >prediction: two years before computer programs can beat professionals in >quick games and a Deep Blue-Kasparov like performance in 2010 (this >might be the 1996 match rather than the 1997 match, though). > >A game from the finals >====================== > >[Black "YSS"] >[White "IS Shogi"] >[Event "13th World Computer Championships, Round 5"] >[Date "May 5th 2003"] >1.P7g-7f 2.P8c-8d 3.S7i-6h 4.P3c-3d 5.S6h-7g 6.S7a-6b 7.S3i-4h 8.G4a-3b >9.P5g-5f 10.G6a-5b 11.G6i-7h 12.S3a-4b 13.K5i-6i 14.K5a-4a 15.G4i-5h >16.P6c-6d 17.P3g-3f 18.S6b-6c 19.B8h-7i 20.P7c-7d 21.P3f-3e 22.P3dx3e >23.P6g-6f 24.B2b-4d 25.G5h-6g 26.N8a-7c 27.S4h-3g 28.S4b-3c 29.S3g-2f >30.S3c-3d 31.R2h-3h 32.K4a-3a 33.G6g-5g 34.P6d-6e 35.G5g-6g 36.R8b-6b >37.P6fx6e 38.N7cx6e 39.S7g-6f 40.S6c-6d 41.S2f-3g 42.P7d-7e 43.P7fx7e >44.S6dx7e 45.S6fx7e 46.B4dx9i+ 47.S*7c 48.R6b-9b 49.G7h-8h 50.P*7g >51.N8ix7g 52.N6ex7g+ 53.G6gx7g 54.N*8e 55.G7g-6g 56.L*3f 57.N*4f >58.L3fx3g+ 59.N2ix3g 60.P*7h 61.K6ix7h 62.S*8i 63.K7h-6i 64.P*7h >65.G8hx7h 66.S8ix7h+ 67.R3hx7h 68.G*7g 69.P*6h 70.G7gx8g 71.S*8h 72.P*7g >73.S8hx8g 74.P7gx7h+ 75.K6ix7h 76.R*7g 77.G6gx7g 78.N8ex7g+ 79.K7h-6i >80.+N7gx8g 81.R*8a 82.G*5a 83.N4fx3d 84.S*7h 85.K6i-5h >86.+B9i-3c87.S7c-8b+ 88.S7hx7i= 89.+S8bx9b 90.+N8g-7g 91.S*5g 92.L9ax9b >93.N3g-4e 94.+N7gx6h 95.S5gx6h 96.S7ix6h+ 97.K5hx6h 98.S*7g 99.K6h-5h >100.+B3cx3d 101.P*3c 102.+B3dx4e 103.P3cx3b+ 104.K3ax3b 105.R8ax8d+ >106.+B4ex5f 107.G*2b 108.K3bx2b 109.N*3d 110.+B5fx3d 111.+R8dx3d >112.S*3c 113.+R3dx3e 114.G*5g 115.K5hx5g 116.B*6h 117.K5g-6g 118.B6hx3e+ >119.K6gx7g 120.N*6c 121.R*7a 122.P5c-5d 123.R7a-7b+ 124.N6cx7e >125.+R7bx7e 126.+B3e-5g 127.S*6f 128.R*6g 129.K7g-7f 130.N*8d 131.K7f-8e >132.R6gx6f+ 133.N*3d 134.S3cx3d 135.S*3a 136.K2bx3a 137.+R7ex6f >138.+B5gx6f 139.B*7e 140.+B6fx7e 141.K8ex7e 142.R*7f 143.K7ex8d 144.S*7c >145.K8d-8c 146.S*8b Resigns > >-- > >Reijer Grimbergen >Department of Information Science >Saga University >1 Honjo-machi, Saga-shi, 840-8502 Japan >E-mail: grimbergen fu is saga-u ac jp >URL: http://www.fu.is.saga-u.ac.jp/~grimberg/ >Tel: +81-(0)952-28-8821 >Fax: +81-(0)952-28-8650 >