The match, the last of three between Ke and AlphaGo, was the culmination of the Future of Go Summit in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang Province, with zero points for human players who also took on the AI program in a pair Go game and a team contest on Friday.
AlphaGo's virtually unbeatable record in the ancient Chinese board game has gained it the title of "Master A" in China.
Go players all over the world can learn something from Master A in its face-off against Ke, Chinese Go grandmaster Nie Weiping, known as "Go saint," said during a live commentary at the venue for the Saturday game. Nie predicted the defeat of Ke not long after the game began.
Ke played white, as he asked to be allowed to use white stones at a post-match press conference on Thursday, feeling inspired by a close match-up in the first 100 moves in the second round, in which AlphaGo played black.
Black moves first and is generally considered to give the player a slight advantage. The AI reportedly has fewer chances of winning when playing black. In the 4-1 victory over South Korean Go grandmaster Lee Sedol in March 2016, AlphaGo was defeated once in the fourth game when Lee, then the world's No.1 Go player, played white.
The Saturday result, however, eventually proves that human rivals could barely capitalize on the subtle differences.
This article by Li Qiaoyi was first published in the Global Times.
