GNU Go 3.0

[Daniel Bump]

GNU Go 3.0 has been released in the form of a tarball
called gnugo-3.0.0.tar.gz at ftp.gnu.org. This program
can give GNU Go 2.6 a four stone handicap.

Although GNU Go is still weaker than the strongest
programs, it is getting stronger quickly. We've
devoted a lot of work to life and death and it is
sometimes quite clever. This summer, for the first
time, it participated in international tournament play.

In the 21st Century Cup held at the US Go Congress,
GNU Go placed 8th in a field of 12. This may not sound
impressive but actually we were satisfied with its
performance. GNU Go won 3 out of 6 games and two of
the games it lost were close. Moreover it scored an
upset win over former Ing Champion program Wulu.

In the European Championship GNU Go placed second,
winning 5 out of six rounds, and losing only to 
the undefeated GoAhead.

http://www.irisa.fr/prive/Tanguy.Urvoy/gnugo/gnugo-goahead.jpg

For more information, see GNU Go's web pages at:

http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo/gnugo.html
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo/devel.html

Daniel Bump