Purpose

Tournament Purpose

The world of computer Go has changed dramatically with the advent of AlphaGo and AlphaZero. The ambitious goal of beeting the top human players was over, and we are moving to a new era. Now AphaGo technology is widely known, AI researchers move on to higher goals and seeking for new relationships between humans and AI.

The UEC Cup Computer Go Tournament, which had been hosted by the Entertainment and Cognitive Science Research Station of the University of Electro-Communications since 2007, was interrpted by the 10th tournament in March 2017.
But the AI Ryusei tournament hosted by the IGO&SHOGI CHANNEL INC. replaced the UEC Cup in 2017 and 2018. Looking at the recent trend of computer Go, Chinese programs become strong and good computer Go tournaments are held in China every year. These competitions continue to function as a benchmark for AI research.

Computer Go is one of the driving force to foster current AI boom, and it still is an important research theme in determining the possibilities and limitations of AI technology. Therefore, we decided to receive the baton from the IGO&SHOGI CHANNEL and re-establish and host a renewed UEC Cup.
After 2020, the continuation of the tournament was in jeopardy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the March 2021 tournament was held online, and despite the difficulties, it attracted 20 teams, and the number of participating teams is on a slight upward trend. As mentioned above, it has been reconfirmed that computer Go is still a difficult subject that cannot be fully understood, even with the latest AI technology.

Through this tournament, we hope to contribute to the development of new science and technology, to evolve new AI, and to the further development of the Go world. We look forward to the participation of many Go program developers.

October 21, 2021
Executive Chair
Takeshi Ito (University of Electro-Communications)