MoGo beats Myungwan Kim (8P) at US Go Congress

From the AGA newsletter (via the ComputerGo mailing list):

COMPUTER BEATS PRO AT U.S. GO CONGRESS:
In a historic achievement, the MoGo computer program defeated Myungwan Kim 8P (l) Thursday afternoon by 1.5 points in a 9-stone game billed as “Humanity’s Last Stand?” “It played really well,” said Kim, who estimated MoGo’s current strength at “two or maybe three dan,” though he noted that the program – which used 800 processors, at 4.7 Ghz, 15 Teraflops on a borrowed European supercomputer – “made some 5-dan moves,” like those in the lower right-hand corner, where Moyogo took advantage of a mistake by Kim to get an early lead. “I can’t tell you how amazing this is,” David Doshay -- the SlugGo programmer who suggested the match -- told the E-Journal after the game.

“I’m shocked at the result. I really didn’t expect the computer to win in a one-hour game.” Kim easily won two blitz games with 9 stones and 11 stones and minutes and lost one with 12 stones and 15 minutes by 3.5 points. The games were played live at the U.S. Go Congress, with over 500 watching online on KGS. “I think there’s no chance on nine stones,” Kim told the EJ after the game. “It would even be difficult with eight stones. MoGo played really well; after getting a lead, every time I played aggressively, it just played safely, even when it meant sacrificing some stones. It didn’t try to maximize the win and just played the most sure way to win. It’s like a machine.”

The game generated a lot of interest and discussion about the game’s tactics and
philosophical implications. “Congratulations on making history today,” game organizer Peter Drake told both Kim and Olivier Teytaud, one of MoGo’s programmers, who participated in a brief online chat after the game. At a rare loss for words in a brief interview with the EJ after the game, Doshay wondered “How much time do we have left? We’ve improved nine stones in just a year and I suspect the next nine will fall quickly now.”

- reported by Chris Garlock

Amazing! Though, the last quote (by David Doshay) should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

[Update 2008-08-09] Apparently, David was misquoted.