One Jump Ahead: Challenging Human Supremacy in Checkers

"Playing chess is like looking out over a limitless ocean; playing checkers is like looking into a bottomless well."

Marion Tinsley, World checkers champion

This extraordinary book tells the story of the creation of the world champion checkers computer program, Chinook. From its beginnings in 1988, Chinook became a worthy opponent to the world champion by 1990 and by 1992 had defeated all the world's top human players. In this fascinating account, Jonathan Schaeffer, the originator and leader of the Chinook team, provides an engrossing story of failures and successes. He describes the human story behind the program and his own feelings in learning from mistakes and technical problems in a continuous effort to improve Chinook's performance.

Over the ten year period beginning in 1988, we follow the development of Chinook from an innocent question asked over lunch through to the final match against the then world champion, Marion Tinsley. As the story unfolds, readers are introduced to the rules of checkers and the basics of computer game programs, as well as to the key figures of the story. As a result, all those interested in computing and games will enjoy this book.

" Schaeffer's personal involvement in the Chinook project, along with his engaging and open story-telling makes the book surprisingly gripping." A.K. Dewdney more

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4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jul-19-2008; Surprisingly good; First off - i don't play checkers, and prior to reading this book, i didn't want to. Second - i do research in game AI (although significantly different than the type of work described here) and even went to a few conferences with the...; read full review | report as inappropriate

1/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Feb-14-2008; Checkers isnt a real game; I began reading this book and around page 100 realized..... Who cares about a computer that can play checkers. Checkers isnt a real game the way chess it anyways. Now Deep Blue is an achievement. The evolutionary computation was...; read full review | report as inappropriate

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Nov-06-2006; Honest; This is one of those books that makes you wincenow and then. Its that transparent. The authordidn't intend it but there is a story here beyondthe program. It unfolds with some interest andsome amaturism, and that lends charm to thetale....; read full review | report as inappropriate

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Nov-05-2006; Honest; We haven't seen Chinook on CNN...yet. The book has an intimate feel, like a diary almost,but the details about how it was concieved, created,and, laboriously, debuged, are great for those wholove AI and software creation in general.The...; read full review | report as inappropriate

Selected Reviews

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jul-19-2008; Surprisingly good; First off - i don't play checkers, and prior to reading this book, i didn't want to. Second - i do research in game AI (although significantly different than the type of work described here) and even went to a few conferences with the...; read full review | report as inappropriate

3/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Mar-02-2001; OK, But; I enjoyed reading this book but as a serious checker player was hoping there was a detailed list of new moves , 4, against 3, Ect.. a listing of cooks, detailed, a checker learning experence Something teaching me, some new endgames,...; read full review | report as inappropriate

1/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Feb-14-2008; Checkers isnt a real game; I began reading this book and around page 100 realized..... Who cares about a computer that can play checkers. Checkers isnt a real game the way chess it anyways. Now Deep Blue is an achievement. The evolutionary computation was...; read full review | report as inappropriate