3-Nation Round Robin in Game of Go Featuring DeepZenGo

Tokyo stages a round robin in the game of Go featuring Japan, China, South Korea and DeepZenGo starting tomorrow, March 21. Yuta Iyama, 9-dan, represents Japan, Ban Yuting, 9-dan, China, and Park Junghwan, 9-dan, South Korea. DeepZenGo joins the three Go masters in the 4-party round robin.

Japan's Yuta Iyama has not played internationally since 1013. His record against China's Ban Yuting is 1:0 in his favor, even with Park Junghwan, and no record so far against DeepZenGo.

The round robin is set for three days starting tomorrow - with a time limit of 3 hours per game. If multiple players should end up with identical scores, there should be a playoff on March 24.

Yuta Iyama is the de facto current Japanese champion in the game of Go. He comments on DeepZenGo he plays against for the first time:

"If I do my very best, I believe I should have a pretty good chance of beating DeepZenGo. Yes, I can say I have confidence."

Hideki Kato, the developer of DeepZenGo, 63, comments:

"The computer has a clear advantage over man playing for three days without rest.

"Our machine sure has a tough team to cope with, but we are looking for a win."

The round robin schedules Iyama:Park and DeepZenGo:Yuting on March 21; Iyama:Yuting and DeepZenGo:Park on March 22; and Iyama:DeepZenGo and Yuting and Park on March 23.

AlphaGo trounced South Korea's Lee Sedol a year ago about this time to shock the world. DeepZenGo is its Japanese counterpart that challenged and lost 1:2 against Japan's master Cho Chikun last year end. 

DeepZenGo is said to have steadily improved itself enough to pose quite a threat to the three leading Go masters in the forthcoming round robin. (Nathan Shiga)

Source: Asahi Shimbun