Othello is resolved, and it is clear that if both sides make the best move, the final situation will be a draw.
On October 30, 2023, a paper titled 'Othello Solved' was posted to the world's largest preprint (pre-peer-reviewed paper) server arXiv. According to the paper, if both sides make their best moves, the final outcome will be a draw.
[2310.19387] Othello is Solved
Othello is a board game with approximately 10 to the 58th power of game records and 10 to the 28th power of positions, and as of 1997, an AI stronger than humans had been born, but a complete analysis had not been performed. They did not know whether the first move would be a guaranteed win, the second move would be a guaranteed win, or a draw if both sides made their best moves.
However, in 2019, Othello Japan representative player Tetsu Saya stated, ``The theory that ``Othello is a draw with the best progression'' is unlikely to be overturned in the future, and among players, Othello is considered to be a draw with the best progression. It was expected that this would be possible.
In this paper, we used the alpha-beta method to reduce the number of calculation targets, and used a technique called 'move ordering' to efficiently reduce the number of calculation targets using the alpha-beta method. By giving evaluation values in advance based on the knowledge of existing players about the progression of the 10 moves, they reduced the amount of calculation and succeeded in ``solving'' Othello.
In the analysis of these games, there are two types of solutions: 'weak solutions' and 'strong solutions.' ``Weak resolution'' involves clarifying what will happen in the final phase of the game if both sides make the best move from the first move, while ``strong resolution'' means that both sides will make the best move in all phases of the game. It means that what happens when you hit it will be clarified.
This paper deals with 'weak solutions,' and calculations are performed on the assumption that you always make the best move. As for the opponent's moves, bad moves are also included in the calculation, and when we proceeded with the calculations for the first move and the second move, the calculation result was that no matter which move we started with, it would be a win or a draw. Therefore, it has become clear that if both sides do their best, the final situation will be a draw.
The code used in this paper is publicly available on GitHub , and the paper also includes an example of one of the game records for the best progression, as shown below. These game records can be played by entering them into game record playback sites and apps, so if you are interested, please check them out.
[code]f5d6c3d3c4f4f6f3e6e7d7c5b6d8c6c7d2b5a5a6a7g5e3b4c8g6g4c2e8d1f7e2g3h4f1e1f2g1b1f8g8b3h3b2h5b7a3a4a1a2c1h2h1g2b8a8g7h8h7h 6[/code]
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