Computer beats Chinese champion in ancient board game of go

WUZHEN, China (AP) — A computer defeated China's top player of the ancient board game go on Tuesday, earning praise that it might have finally surpassed human abilities in one of the last games machines have yet to dominate.

The computer will also face other top-ranked Chinese players during the five-day event.

AlphaGo has improved markedly since it defeated South Korea's top competitor last year and is a "completely different player," Ke told reporters.

Go players take turns putting white or black stones on a rectangular grid with 361 intersections, trying to capture territory and each other's pieces by surrounding them.

Go, known as weiqi in China and baduk in Korea, is considered more challenging because the near-infinite number of possible positions requires intuition and flexibility.