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Jonathan Schaeffer
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One Jump Ahead: Challenging Human Supremacy in Checkers 1st Edition

by Jonathan Schaeffer (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 17 ratings
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The new edition of this extraordinary book tells of the creation of the world champion checkers computer program, Chinook. In only two years, Chinook had become a worthy opponent to the world champion, and within four years had defeated all the world's top human players. Jonathan Schaeffer, the originator and leader of the Chinook team, provides an engrossing account 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. Beginning in 1988, we follow the development of Chinook from an innocent question asked over lunch through to the final match against then world champion, Marion Tinsley, and ultimately to its recent triumph, perfecting checkers. As the story unfolds, readers are introduced to its key figures, and to the rules of checkers and the basics of computer game programs. As a result, all those interested in computing and games will enjoy this book.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0387949305
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0387949307
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Springer
  5. Publication date
    April 24, 1997
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.14 x 1.1 x 9.21 inches
  8. Print length
    496 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"...We get a close look into the embarrassingly low-rent, codger-populated world of championship checkers... and a few painless lessons in the game itself... But the most memorable passages deal with Schaeffers's own bittersweet reactions. His brainchild does so well that he can see, all too clearly, its almost tragic effect on the cloistered society of checkers - and on his fellow human beings." Newsweek

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

About the Author

The scientists who developed Chinook rigorously proved that Chinook can never lose, i.e. computer checkers has been solved.  Author Schaeffer detailed the process on the web site of the journal Science in July 2007, and the story has since been reported in the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, USA Today, Discover Magazine, as well as on MSNBC and CNN, among others.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Springer; 1st edition (April 24, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0387949305
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0387949307
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.14 x 1.1 x 9.21 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 17 ratings

About the author

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Jonathan Schaeffer

Jonathan Schaeffer

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Jonathan Schaeffer is a Professor of Computing Science at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). His research area is artificial intelligence, and he is best known for using games to demonstrate his research. In 1994 his checkers-playing program Chinook became the first computer program to win a human world championship in any game. This feat is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. He has also worked on world-class chess and poker programs, as well as developing AI technology for commercial games companies. He is a founder of Onlea (onlea.org) which develops engaging on-line learning experiences.

With his new book Toward No Earthly Pole, Jonathan combines his hobby (reading Polar exploration literature) with his love for historical fiction.

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3.9 out of 5 stars
17 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Shawn Pope
    5.0 out of 5 stars Solid read!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    With an interest in both checkers and AI, I thought that these book was a very interesting and honest portrayal of Dr. Schaeffer's attempt to build the world's best checker's program to ultimately beat Marion Tinsley. Having taken part in a few computing competitions myself, I can attest to the level of fixation and stubborn desire to win that can overtake someone. While the book is light on technical details, it does talk about the different components of the search algorithm and some of the problems that they had along the way while building the program. Also, if you are interested in checkers, the book contains great detail about Marion Tinsley and the other leading checkers players at the time.
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  • Digital Curmedeon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Compelling
    Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Amazing that something as seemingly boring as a book about writing a program to play checkers could be this interesting. Author does an excellent job of bringing the people in the chess and computer science communities to life.
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  • Bruce Lindsey
    5.0 out of 5 stars I tried to become a tournament-level player myself in the ...
    Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2016
    I tried to become a tournament-level player myself in the late 1980s but it took more obsession than I was willing to make. Instead I ended up in grad school in Computer Science, the other side of this book.

    Nevertheless, the book was fascinating not only for the story but for seeing Schaeffer's view of people I had met back then - Tinsley, Lafferty, Walker, Markusic, Noel Boland, Gene Lindsay, a few others.
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  • Paul L
    5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting and balanced portait of flawed people and machines
    Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 1999
    I'm a biased reviewer since I was involved in the Chinook project and I'm mentioned a number of times in the book.
    Others have already pointed out how this book reads like a thriller. I agree completely. Each time that I re-read this book (which is almost like a yearbook for me), I get a rush out of how effectively Jonathan takes the reader into his own mind, the (computer) mind of Chinook, and the minds of Chinook's opponents (often through their own comments and game annotations). I squirm at the retelling of how Chinook lost the first two matches in Hot Springs (1992) where I sat Poker-faced as I operated the computer.
    Another strength of this book is how Jonathan fearlessly pulls no punches in presenting balanced portraits of the many people involved in the Chinook story. Don't expect a forgettable puff piece. Scientists and champions are not immune from human foibles. In dispelling that illusion, Jonathan tells a honest and valuable story. Nobody escapes Jonathan's (sometimes) sharp criticism: not myself (deserved), not some of the luminaries of checkers (accurate, in my opinion), and especially not Jonathan himself. But Jonathan balances this with genuine praise, affection, and respect in almost every case. Consequently, the book contains many insights on human nature, the nature of AI, and what happens when they cross paths.
    28 people found this helpful
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  • Jack Michaelson
    1.0 out of 5 stars Checkers isnt a real game
    Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2008
    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 interesting but come on.... checkers? Why not spend months developing a program that can do something useful... like balance my checkbook.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • baylor
    4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good
    Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2008
    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 author, though we've never spoken (he had a reputation for being a bit of a jerk). So my review is from the point of view of a non-checkers playing engineer.

    First off, the book is incredibly meticulous in keeping track of what happened when. The author apparently asked everyone he knew to email him about various events because he often quotes long passages from other people. For example, he might describe a game he won or lost and then ask the person he played against and the judge of the match to describe it in their own words.

    Second, i thought the book was pretty easy to understand. i know computers so maybe i'm not a good judge there but he did a good job explaining checkers (and chess, which comes up) so that i understood what was going on.

    Third, he makes checkers seem interesting, or at least as much as i think he can. Apparently normal checkers isn't interesting but in tournaments they play odd varieties like two ballot (explained in the book) which makes for a much more interesting game than i would have expected. He also makes it easy to understand why checkers is a hard game requiring a lot of skill, which i wouldn't have guessed before this book.

    Fourth, the author lets you know that he is a jerk. He doesn't appear to do anything to hide his faults or make you like him. In the book he repeatedly apologizes to people for how he's treated them. Honestly, i liked the author a lot more after reading this book. His issue is that he's very focused, driven and competitive and that results in things like snapping at his students and not giving his family enough attention. It doesn't necessarily excuse it but it makes the author easier to understand. It's also a pretty major accomplishment for an autobiography - not once did i get the feeling that the author was lying, exaggerating or trying to tell you how to think (except for his constant effort to convince you that checkers and checkers players are great people). He's just a guy trying to be honest, and i respect that.

    Fifth, the book was a great look at how well technology did and didn't work in the '90s (computers were constantly crashing and network lines going down) and how tournaments come into being (sponsors, venues, judging, sportsmanship, personalities, press and a lot of other issues that i thought would be boring but weren't).

    Finally, the book isn't quite the success story you might expect. The majority of the story is about how the author failed, quite often because he did something stupid he knew he shouldn't do (like optimizing code so much that he broke it). At the end of the story (and many, many years of research), the computer is maybe finally good enough to be world champion but no one will ever find out because the real champion resigned due to health problems and shortly after that died. i think it's hard to overestimate how much the author respected the guy he could never beat.

    This doesn't seem like the kind of book anyone should really enjoy reading. An engineer describes how he wrote a computer program? Even engineers read it because they have to, not because they enjoy it. But i really liked this book. If you aren't a computer person, i honestly don't know if you'll like it, but give it a shot, i think just about anyone would enjoy this book.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Rainer Rosenthal
    5.0 out of 5 stars Spannender Bericht zur Computergeschichte
    Reviewed in Germany on September 29, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Das Dame-Spiel gehört zu einem der ersten Spiele, in dem der Computer gegen die besten Spieler der Welt bestehen konnte. Welche geistige Leistung dahinter steckt, welche technischen Probleme zu bewältigen sind, und welche Charaktere sich zusammenfinden mussten, um den Computer dazu zu befähigen, wird kurzweilig und mit viel Hintergrundinformationen beschrieben.
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  • Mike Baliman
    5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2002
    Verified Purchase
    Well I never thought that title would describe for a book on a project to create a world champion beating chequers playing program!
    I originally read the first half of the book when staying with a friend. When I got home I had - for the first time in my life - to buy a book merely to read half of it, so un-put-downable is it.
    The book requires no technical knowledge either or computers of of draughts (and to an extent if one approaches it expecting technical insights in to either one will be disappointed).
    In practice it's such a good read as the story is well told and gathers momentum the nearer the author gets to the goal. It is focused on the people and the project and not the technicals. Schaeffer recounts his hopes, feelings and motivations with a brutal honesty - never shying away from an accurate description when authorial licence might have presented him in a better light.
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