Computer discovers perfect game of draughts: it's a draw
In a tale reminiscent of “WarGames“, a computer has finally played out the 500 billion possible positions in the game of draughts (checkers). It only took Chinook 18 years to do so.
Now, computer scientists at the University of Alberta say that they have “solved” the game.
Guess what? Perfect play on both sides leads to a draw. Sounds a bit like tic-tac-toe to me – or perhaps “Global Thermonuclear War”.
Jonathan Schaeffer and colleagues wrote in their report, “That checkers is a draw is not a surprise; grandmaster players have conjectured this for decades.”
However, no computer had previously been able to tackle the game thoroughly.
Now, how about a nice game of chess.
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