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Computer shogi
Computer shogi is a field of artificial intelligence concerned with the creation of computer programs which can play shogi. The research and development of shogi software has been carried out mainly by freelance programmers, university research groups and private companies. By 2017, the strongest programs were outperforming the strongest human players.
Shogi has the distinctive feature of reusing captured pieces. Therefore, shogi has a higher branching factor than other chess variants. The computer has more positions to examine because each piece in hand can be dropped on many squares. This gives shogi the highest number of legal positions and the highest number of possible games of all the popular chess variants. The higher numbers for shogi mean it is harder to reach the highest levels of play. The number of legal positions and the number of possible games are two measures of shogi's game complexity.
The complexity of Go can be found at Go and mathematics. More information on the complexity of Chess can be found at Shannon number.
The primary components of a computer shogi program are the opening book, the search algorithm and the endgame. The "opening book" helps put the program in a good position and saves time. Shogi professionals, however, do not always follow an opening sequence as in chess, but make different moves to create good formation of pieces. The "search algorithm" looks ahead more deeply in a sequence of moves and allows the program to better evaluate a move. The search is harder in shogi than in chess because of the larger number of possible moves. A program will stop searching when it reaches a stable position. The problem is many positions are unstable because of the drop move. Finally, the "endgame" starts when the king is attacked and ends when the game is won. In chess, there are fewer pieces which leads to perfect play by endgame databases; However, pieces can be dropped in shogi so there are no endgame databases. A tsumeshogi solver is used to quickly find mating moves.
In the 1980s, due to the immaturity of the technology in such fields as programming, CPUs and memory, computer shogi programs took a long time to think, and often made moves for which there was no apparent justification. These programs had the level of an amateur of kyu rank.
In the first decade of the 21st century, computer shogi has taken large steps forward in software and hardware technology. In 2007, top shogi player Yoshiharu Habu estimated the strength of the 2006 world computer shogi champion Bonanza. He contributed to the newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun evening edition on 26 March 2007 about the match between Bonanza and then Ryūō Champion Akira Watanabe. Habu rated Bonanza's game at the level of 2 dan shogi apprentice (shōreikai).[citation needed]
In particular, computers are most suited to brute-force calculation, and far outperform humans at the task of finding ways of checkmating from a given position, which involves many fewer possibilities. In games with time limits of 10 seconds from the first move, computers are becoming a tough challenge for even professional shogi players.[citation needed] The past steady progress of computer shogi is a guide for the future. In 1996 Habu predicted a computer would beat him in 2015. Akira Watanabe gave an interview to the newspaper Asahi Shimbun in 2012. He estimated the computer played at the 4 dan professional level. Watanabe also said the computer sometimes found moves for him.
On 23 October 2005, at the 3rd International Shogi Forum, the Japan Shogi Association permitted Toshiyuki Moriuchi, 2005 Meijin, to play computer shogi program YSS. Toshiyuki Moriuchi won the game playing 30 seconds per move with a Bishop handicap. In 2012, a retired professional lost a match with computer publicly first, and in 2013, active shogi professionals too.
Hub AI
Computer shogi AI simulator
(@Computer shogi_simulator)
Computer shogi
Computer shogi is a field of artificial intelligence concerned with the creation of computer programs which can play shogi. The research and development of shogi software has been carried out mainly by freelance programmers, university research groups and private companies. By 2017, the strongest programs were outperforming the strongest human players.
Shogi has the distinctive feature of reusing captured pieces. Therefore, shogi has a higher branching factor than other chess variants. The computer has more positions to examine because each piece in hand can be dropped on many squares. This gives shogi the highest number of legal positions and the highest number of possible games of all the popular chess variants. The higher numbers for shogi mean it is harder to reach the highest levels of play. The number of legal positions and the number of possible games are two measures of shogi's game complexity.
The complexity of Go can be found at Go and mathematics. More information on the complexity of Chess can be found at Shannon number.
The primary components of a computer shogi program are the opening book, the search algorithm and the endgame. The "opening book" helps put the program in a good position and saves time. Shogi professionals, however, do not always follow an opening sequence as in chess, but make different moves to create good formation of pieces. The "search algorithm" looks ahead more deeply in a sequence of moves and allows the program to better evaluate a move. The search is harder in shogi than in chess because of the larger number of possible moves. A program will stop searching when it reaches a stable position. The problem is many positions are unstable because of the drop move. Finally, the "endgame" starts when the king is attacked and ends when the game is won. In chess, there are fewer pieces which leads to perfect play by endgame databases; However, pieces can be dropped in shogi so there are no endgame databases. A tsumeshogi solver is used to quickly find mating moves.
In the 1980s, due to the immaturity of the technology in such fields as programming, CPUs and memory, computer shogi programs took a long time to think, and often made moves for which there was no apparent justification. These programs had the level of an amateur of kyu rank.
In the first decade of the 21st century, computer shogi has taken large steps forward in software and hardware technology. In 2007, top shogi player Yoshiharu Habu estimated the strength of the 2006 world computer shogi champion Bonanza. He contributed to the newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun evening edition on 26 March 2007 about the match between Bonanza and then Ryūō Champion Akira Watanabe. Habu rated Bonanza's game at the level of 2 dan shogi apprentice (shōreikai).[citation needed]
In particular, computers are most suited to brute-force calculation, and far outperform humans at the task of finding ways of checkmating from a given position, which involves many fewer possibilities. In games with time limits of 10 seconds from the first move, computers are becoming a tough challenge for even professional shogi players.[citation needed] The past steady progress of computer shogi is a guide for the future. In 1996 Habu predicted a computer would beat him in 2015. Akira Watanabe gave an interview to the newspaper Asahi Shimbun in 2012. He estimated the computer played at the 4 dan professional level. Watanabe also said the computer sometimes found moves for him.
On 23 October 2005, at the 3rd International Shogi Forum, the Japan Shogi Association permitted Toshiyuki Moriuchi, 2005 Meijin, to play computer shogi program YSS. Toshiyuki Moriuchi won the game playing 30 seconds per move with a Bishop handicap. In 2012, a retired professional lost a match with computer publicly first, and in 2013, active shogi professionals too.