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The Ing World Computer Go Congress

This competition was sponsored by the Ing Wei-Chi Educational Foundation. It started in the mid 80's as a local Taiwanese competition, then went worldwide in 1986. The last competition was in 2001.

The Ing GOE Educational Foundation was founded in 1983 to promote the game of go in Taiwan and internationally, and to promote a new ruleset, known as the SST laws of Wei-Ch'i, or "GOE".

Each year in November about 16 strong computer go programs met in the World Computer Go Contest, sponsored by the Ing Foundation and a local computer company. The contest was held in a different location each year. The main competition between programs was 5 to 7 rounds, held over a 2 day period.

The top three finishers from the previous were automatically invited the next year. In August or September there was a preliminary qualification tournament where programs are mailed to Taiwan and played against 3 test programs. Beating 2 of 3 programs qualifies. Last years first place finisher, and any qualifier that beat last year's winner got a full air fare subsidy. 2nd and 3rd from last year and other qualifiers received 1/2 air fare subsidy. Several local programs were also invited to participate to round out a field of 12 to 16 programs.

The top program went on to play against humans for additional prizes. The amount of the prize depended on the handicap, and the handicap was reduced after each prize is won. The computer-human games are played against 3 local youth champions, typically amateur 5 ot 6 dans around 12 years old. Beating top pros was a requirement to win the top prizes, but the computers never got past the 8 stone handicap.

The top prize, for beating a top professional in a best of 7 series, is NT$40,000,000, about US$1.6 million. This year's match against the humans will be 2 out of 3, with a 10 play handicap, for NT$250,000. The top prize is only offered through the year 2000.

Programs must play using GOE rules, with an 8 point komi. Ing's time purchasing system is used, with a one hour time limit. Each program must complete all its moves within one hour of clock time. At 1 hour, it gives up 2 points, at 1:10, 2 more points, at 1:20 two more points, and at 1:30 it loses on time. Mirror go is not allowed past move 60. The judge is allowed to determine the outcome of the game if it is obvious after move 250.

The FOST Cup

There were five FOST Cups sponsored by the Fusion of Science and Technology organization. They took place every August or September, in Tokyo, with a 2 million yen first prize (about $20,000), 500,000 yen second prize, and 200,000 yen 3rd prize.

Games were played using Japanese rules, with a 5.5 point komi. Each program is allowed 1 hour for 125 moves. Programs are encouraged to use the standard computer go protocol to communicate.

The Computer Game Olympiads

Garosu Cup

The Intelligent Go Foundation

Results

I include all programs that have participated more than once, or that finished in the top 5 places. Order is by rating, which is a weighted average of results, with each year weighted 2/3 of the year after it. For determining the rating, missing results are interpolated, and programs that have not participated recently are penalized one rank per year.

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US Computer Go Results
European Computer Go Results
Summaries of Computer Go competitions