A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Not words that you read often. But read this story and you will understand why I wrote those words:

Computers can beat some of the world`s top chess players, but the most powerful machines have failed at the popular Asian board game "Go" in which human intuition has so far proven key.

Two Hungarian scientists have now come up with an algorithm that helps computers pick the right move in Go, played by millions around the world, in which players must capture spaces by placing black and white marbles on a board in turn.

"On a nine by nine board we are not far from reaching the level of a professional Go player," said Levente Kocsis at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences` computing lab SZTAKI.

The 19 by 19 board which top players use is still hard for a machine, but the new method is promising because it makes better use of the growing power of computers than earlier Go software.

"Programs using this method immediately improve if you use two processors instead of one, say, which was not typical for earlier programs," Kocsis said.