Jonathan Schaeffer
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Herbert Schaeffer (born 1957) is a Canadian
researcher and professor at the University of Alberta
and the Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence.
He led the team that wrote Chinook, the world's strongest American checkers
player, after some relatively good results in writing computer chess
programs. He is involved in the University of Alberta GAMES group developing computer poker
systems. Schaeffer is also the primary developer of Polaris
, a program designed to play the Texas Hold'em variant of poker.
, Ontario
, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1979 from the University of Toronto
. He received a Master of Mathematics degree in 1980 and a Ph.D. in 1986 from the University of Waterloo
. Schaeffer reached national master
strength in chess
while in his early 20s, but has played little competitive chess since that time.
to win the world champion title in a competition against humans. In 1990 it won the right to play in the human World Championship by being second to Marion Tinsley
in the US Nationals. At first the American Checkers Federation and English Draughts Association were against the participation of a computer in a human championship. When Tinsley resigned his title in protest, the ACF and EDA created the new title Man vs. Machine World Championship, and competition proceeded. Tinsley won with four wins to Chinook's two.
In a rematch, Chinook was declared the Man-Machine World Champion in checkers in 1994 in a match against Marion Tinsley after six drawn games, and Tinsley's withdrawal due to pancreatic cancer. While Chinook became the world champion, it had never defeated the best checkers player of all time, Tinsley, who was significantly superior to even his closest peer.
The championship continued with Chinook defending its title against Don Lafferty
when it lost one game, won one and drew 18. After the match, Jonathan Schaeffer decided not to let Chinook compete anymore, but instead try to solve checkers. It was rated at 2814.
In 2007, after 18 years of computation, he proved through a weak solution
that checkers always results in a draw if neither player makes a mistake. The solution involved 1014 calculations from an initial position of 10 pieces on the board.
, which has developed several strong computer programs for playing Texas hold 'em
poker. The earliest and most general of these is Poki, which uses Monte Carlo simulation to choose actions during a game. More recently, the group has focused on the two-player (Heads-Up) variant, and has developed a series of programs that approximate Nash equilibrium
strategies for the game. Several of these programs (such as Poki, SparBot and VexBot) are available in products such as Poker Academy from BioTools.
In July 2007, Schaeffer announced a competition between the group's newest program, Polaris
, and two human professionals, Phil Laak
and Ali Eslami
. The competition was held at the 2007 Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
(AAAI) conference, which also hosted an international competition between computer poker programs. Out of four matches against the human professionals, Polaris won one, tied one, and lost twice; overall, the humans won the competition by a small margin. In the computer competition, Polaris (playing under the name Hyperborean) won the Limit Hold'em event and came 1st in the No-Limit Hold'em event.
at the University of Alberta
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
researcher and professor at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
and the Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence.
He led the team that wrote Chinook, the world's strongest American checkers
English draughts
English draughts or checkers , also called American checkers or straight checkers or in Israel damka, is a form of draughts board game. Unlike international draughts, it is played on an eight by eight squared board with twelve pieces on each side...
player, after some relatively good results in writing computer chess
Computer chess
Computer chess is computer architecture encompassing hardware and software capable of playing chess autonomously without human guidance. Computer chess acts as solo entertainment , as aids to chess analysis, for computer chess competitions, and as research to provide insights into human...
programs. He is involved in the University of Alberta GAMES group developing computer poker
Computer poker players
Computer poker players are computer programs designed to play the game of poker against human opponents or other computer opponents. They are commonly referred to as pokerbots or just simply bots.- On the Internet :...
systems. Schaeffer is also the primary developer of Polaris
Polaris (poker bot)
Polaris is a Texas hold 'em poker playing program developed by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta, a project that has been under way for 16 years as of 2007...
, a program designed to play the Texas Hold'em variant of poker.
Early life
Born in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1979 from the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. He received a Master of Mathematics degree in 1980 and a Ph.D. in 1986 from the University of Waterloo
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo is a comprehensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles, and has since grown to an institution of more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff...
. Schaeffer reached national master
Chess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
strength in chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
while in his early 20s, but has played little competitive chess since that time.
Draughts: Chinook
Chinook is the first computer programComputer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
to win the world champion title in a competition against humans. In 1990 it won the right to play in the human World Championship by being second to Marion Tinsley
Marion Tinsley
Marion Tinsley is considered the greatest checkers player who ever lived. He was world champion from 1955–1958 and 1975–1991. Tinsley never lost a World Championship match, and lost only seven games in his entire 45 year career...
in the US Nationals. At first the American Checkers Federation and English Draughts Association were against the participation of a computer in a human championship. When Tinsley resigned his title in protest, the ACF and EDA created the new title Man vs. Machine World Championship, and competition proceeded. Tinsley won with four wins to Chinook's two.
In a rematch, Chinook was declared the Man-Machine World Champion in checkers in 1994 in a match against Marion Tinsley after six drawn games, and Tinsley's withdrawal due to pancreatic cancer. While Chinook became the world champion, it had never defeated the best checkers player of all time, Tinsley, who was significantly superior to even his closest peer.
The championship continued with Chinook defending its title against Don Lafferty
Don Lafferty
Don Lafferty was a Grandmaster checkers player. In 1982 he defeated Derek Oldbury for the World GAYP championship with a score of 1-0-23. He was challenged for the championship in 1984 by Paul Davis, winning easily 5-0-15...
when it lost one game, won one and drew 18. After the match, Jonathan Schaeffer decided not to let Chinook compete anymore, but instead try to solve checkers. It was rated at 2814.
In 2007, after 18 years of computation, he proved through a weak solution
Solved game
A solved game is a game whose outcome can be correctly predicted from any position when each side plays optimally. Games which have not been solved are said to be "unsolved"...
that checkers always results in a draw if neither player makes a mistake. The solution involved 1014 calculations from an initial position of 10 pieces on the board.
Poker: Polaris
Schaeffer leads the computer poker research group at the University of AlbertaUniversity of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
, which has developed several strong computer programs for playing Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
poker. The earliest and most general of these is Poki, which uses Monte Carlo simulation to choose actions during a game. More recently, the group has focused on the two-player (Heads-Up) variant, and has developed a series of programs that approximate Nash equilibrium
Nash equilibrium
In game theory, Nash equilibrium is a solution concept of a game involving two or more players, in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only his own strategy unilaterally...
strategies for the game. Several of these programs (such as Poki, SparBot and VexBot) are available in products such as Poker Academy from BioTools.
In July 2007, Schaeffer announced a competition between the group's newest program, Polaris
Polaris (poker bot)
Polaris is a Texas hold 'em poker playing program developed by the computer poker research group at the University of Alberta, a project that has been under way for 16 years as of 2007...
, and two human professionals, Phil Laak
Phil Laak
Philip "Phil" C. Laak is a professional poker player, now residing in Los Angeles, California. Laak holds a World Poker Tour title, a World Series of Poker bracelet and has appeared on numerous nationally-aired television shows.-Early life:...
and Ali Eslami
Ali Eslami
Ali Eslami is a professional poker player currently residing in Los Angeles area. He was one of two people, who first won the man-machine poker championship....
. The competition was held at the 2007 Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence or AAAI is an international, nonprofit, scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines...
(AAAI) conference, which also hosted an international competition between computer poker programs. Out of four matches against the human professionals, Polaris won one, tied one, and lost twice; overall, the humans won the competition by a small margin. In the computer competition, Polaris (playing under the name Hyperborean) won the Limit Hold'em event and came 1st in the No-Limit Hold'em event.
Currently
Currently Dr. Schaeffer is the Vice-Provost for Information TechnologyInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
.
Further reading
- Schaeffer, Jonathan. One Jump Ahead:: Challenging Human Supremacy in Checkers, 1997, Springer, ISBN 978-0387949307.
External links
- Homepage
- Solving Checkers by J. Schaeffer, Y. Björnsson, N. Burch, A. Kishimoto, M. Müller, R. Lake, P. Lu and S. Sutphen
- Partial Information Endgame Databases by Yngvi Björnsson, Jonathan Schaeffer, and Nathan R. Sturtevant
- manmachinepoker.com Information on Polaris' matches against human professionals