The Many Faces of Go, Version 12

"The Many Faces of Go" is the 2010 World Computer Go 13x13 champion, the 2008 World Computer Go 19x19 and 9x9 champion, the 2002 World Computer Go Champion, 1998 World Computer Go Champion, and ten time US Computer Go Champion. It is one of the strongest Computer Go opponents in the world, and has many other great features including an integrated IGS client so you can play on the Internet. A sophisticated set of go problems and a Joseki tutor help you improve your game. It includes several go players of different strengths, from 2 kyu to 18 kyu, so players of any level can have a challenging game.

System requirements: IBM-PC or compatible, 32 bit or 64 bit Intel or AMD CPU, Windows NT, XP, 2000, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10. 32 or 64 bit Windows. 512 MB or more main memory.

Download The Many Faces of Go Version 12 Free trial

Buy The Many Faces of Go Version 12

In 2006 and 2007 a new breakthrough algorithm for computer go (Monte Carlo Tree Search), was developed in France. This new approach plays thousands of pseudorandom games each second, and collects statistics on the moves to choose where to play. With very little go knowledge, this algorithm can beat any of the traditional, knowledge-based, go programs.

Many Faces of Go, Version 12 is the only program to combine the new search algorithm with the go knowledge from Version 11 to get the benefit of both. It gains strength from Monte Carlo evaluation, but avoids most of the strange moves. This led immediately to over five stones increase in playing strength. At the 2008 ICGA world championship, the pure Monte Carlo programs beat all of the traditional programs, and Many Faces of Go Version 12 beat all of the Monte Carlo and traditional programs. Ongoing work since then continues to improve the strength of the program at a rapid rate.

Version 12 Features:

Great graphics. Beautiful and adjustable 3-D slate and clamshell stones with shadows, and realistic wood grain. You can rotate the board, or add coordinates. Won the "Best Design" award at the 1991 World Computer Go Championship.
Sound. Realistic clicks and capture sounds, and sounds for pass, IGS match, etc.
Strong go player. 6 levels of play, from 18 Kyu to 1 Dan (3 Dan on 9x boards). 2010 World Computer Go Champion 13x13. 2008 World Computer Go Champion in both 19x19 and 9x9. Over 7 stones stronger than Version 11.
Plays at your level. Calibrated levels from 18 kyu to 1 Dan to give any player a good even game. It tracks your rank as you improve and adjusts to always give you a good game.
Multiple users. Tracks playing strength by name for multiple people.
Go tutorial. Over 100 screens of text, examples, and simple problems teach you the rules, elementary tactics and strategies.
Go problems. Over 2000 go problems for all levels of player. The program selects problems for you based on your strength, and tracks your strength as you solve them. Problems appear in different orientations and colors to aid learning. Go problems can be updated over the internet, and it is easy for you to add additional problems or problem sets.
Play go on the Internet. An Internet Go Server (IGS) client is built in so you can play go on the internet with the familiar Many Faces interface, and use its powerful editing features to comment your games.
Move suggestions. At each move it can show suggestions for next move, by category (such as attacking, invading, endgame, etc). Can also show liberty counts and/or group strengths for all groups. The computer can show its lookahead while it is thinking.
Game Score Graphs. Graph your score or win probability at each move. Click on a move to go to that position.
Move explanations. Can explain why it made a move or suggested a move for you.
Computer solving of go problems. The computer can solve life and death problems in your games to help you improve.
Thousands of games to play through. Hundreds of professional games with commentary. About a thousand uncommented professional game records, organized by tournament. About a thousand commented amateur games from the Go Teaching Ladder. Over 4,000 uncommented very strong amateur games.
Powerful Game Editor. Can present for review any game in the standard Ishi format (.go) or the popular Smart Game Format (.sgf). When reviewing a game you can try to guess the next move. A wide variety of marks are supported. You can add commentary or variations. Use ctrl-click to move directly to any move in the game. Insert, delete, or drag stones to new positions. Great for recording your own games for later study.
Can play and score using all major rule sets (Japanese, Chinese, GOE, and American).
Can play either color, or serve as an electronic go board for two people.
Can give or receive a handicap.
Fuseki Library. A library of opening sequences on the whole board from almost 100,000 professional and strong amateur games. At each position, shows the popularity of each next move. Every game played is added to the libray. You can add additional games in sgf format from any source.
Joseki Tutor. Over 45,000 move library of standard corner sequences is available for study or reference. Includes joseki, near-joseki, trick plays, and responses to many bad moves. Use it to look up variations, or to test your joseki knowledge.
Printing of go diagrams or full games with numbered moves.
On-line manual with information on history, tournaments, professionals, etc.
Improved Windows compatibility. It uses the Microsoft installer, which works on all Microsoft operating systems and Linux or Mac. It uses the newer HTML help system, since the older help is not supported on Vista. It works well on 32-bit or 64-bit Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
Mac and Linux compatibility using Wine, Crossover, or Parallels. Version 11 graphic issues on these machines are fixed.
The program will resign when it is behind, or you can resign a rated game if you are behind.

Buy Version 12

The most recent computer go engine (Version 12) is available in Japan, as "AI IGO," with a Japanese user interface for Windows or Macintosh. This is one of the best selling go programs in Japan.

You can play against "The Many Faces of Go" on the internet on the KGS go server in the Computer Go room. It uses the name "ManyFaces."

Many Faces' Go Rating

Go ratings for amateurs are on a scale that starts around 25 kyu for beginners, goes to 1 kyu, then 1 dan, then 6 dan or so for the strongest players. Most people who are serious about studying the game, and have stronger players to play with, can get to 10 kyu in about a year, and 1 dan in 3 to 5 years. American (AGA), Japanese, and NNGS ratings are a little weaker than ratings in China, Taiwan, Korea, Europe, and IGS.

The older Many Faces of Go Version 11 has a 6 kyu diploma from the Japanese Nihon-Ki-in, based on test games against rated Japanese players and some sample play against a 9-dan professional. It had am 8 kyu rank on the NNGS.

Many Faces Version 12 is rated stronger than 1 Dan on the online KGS server, based on hundreds of games against many different players. The graph below shows the rating of my unreleased experimental engine that will be in the next Version.

KGS rank graph for manyfaces

Known Bugs, Incompatibilities, and issues in Version 12

The IGS computer go server client can be unreliable. All issues with Windows 10 have been fixed.

Click here to send mail to report bugs in Version 12, or to suggest new features for the next Version.

Known Bugs, Incompatibilities, and issues in Version 11.0

Installation on Vista or Win-7 sometimes fails. See the support FAQ for help on installing on Vista.

Older Versions

I've been working on this go engine for a long time, and it has appeared in many earlier products:

Between 1981 and 1987, various Versions were given away free to friends, running on HP-1000, Vax, and PA-RISC. An old HP-UX free Version is still available on some web sites, called xgo.
September, 1988. Cosmos, the Computer Go Partner for the IBM-PC. The first release for IBM PC. One upgrade Version of Cosmos was released in 1990.
The source code for the final Version of Cosmos was given to the Spec benchmark committee, and is now 099.GO, one of the SpecInt95 benchmark suite. Hundreds of compiler writers around the world tuned their compilers to make my go program run faster :-) Spec's description of the program.
The Many Faces of Go had five earlier releases (7.0x, 8.0x, 9.0x, 10.0 and 11.0) between 1995 and 2002.
Igowin is a free 9x9 only Windows-95/98/NT Version of Many Faces of Go, that plays fast, tracks your go strength as you improve, and learns from its mistakes so it never loses the same way twice. It includes the full Many Faces of Go tutorial, and an on-line manual with lots of information about the game. Download it here.
Igo was a 9x9 only DOS Version of Many Faces of Go, with a deliberately dumber engine. It includes the Go tutorial from The Many Faces of Go, and has the same great graphics. It is free, and intended to help beginners learn the game.
Go simulator was a Version of the first release of The Many Faces of Go, released in Europe with a 3 language manual and box.
An early Version of The Many Faces of Go was sold in Korea, with a Korean box and manual.
A Version for EO and Intel Penpoint OS handheld computers.
Go programs based on the Many Faces of Go engine are on sale in Japan and Korea, for IBM-PC, Mac, Nintendo-DS, and Sony Playstation.