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A Hybrid Approach to Parallelization of Monte Carlo Tree Search in General Game Playing

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Challenging Problems and Solutions in Intelligent Systems

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 634))

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the concept of a parallelization of Monte Carlo Tree Search applied to games. Specifically, we consider General Game Playing framework, which has originated at Stanford University in 2005 and has become one of the most important realizations of the multi-game playing idea. We introduce a novel parallelization method, called Limited Hybrid Root-Tree Parallelization, based on a combination of two existing ones (Root and Tree Parallelization) additionally equipped with a mechanism of limiting actions available during the search process. The proposed approach is evaluated and compared to the non-limited hybrid version counterpart and to the Tree Parallelization method. The advantages over Root Parallelization are derived on a theoretical basis. In the experiments, the proposed method is more effective than Tree Parallelization and also than non-limited hybrid version in certain games.

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Acknowledgments

M. Świechowski was supported by the Foundation for Polish Science under International Projects in Intelligent Computing (MPD) and The European Union within the Innovative Economy Operational Programme and European Regional Development Fund.

This research was financed by the National Science Centre in Poland, based on the decision DEC-2012/07/B/ST6/01527.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ph.D. Studies at Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    Maciej Świechowski

  2. Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

    Jacek Mańdziuk

  3. School of Computer Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Jacek Mańdziuk

Authors
  1. Maciej Świechowski
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  2. Jacek Mańdziuk
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maciej Świechowski .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Telecommunication & Inform proc, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium

    Guy de Trė

  2. Faculty of Maths and Information Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Warszawa, Poland

    Przemysław Grzegorzewski

  3. Polish Academy of Sciences, Systems Research Institute, Warszawa, Poland

    Janusz Kacprzyk

  4. Polish Academy of Sciences, Systems Research Institute, Warszawa, Poland

    Jan W. Owsiński

  5. Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Computer Science, Warszawa, Poland

    Wojciech Penczek

  6. Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    Sławomir Zadrożny

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Świechowski, M., Mańdziuk, J. (2016). A Hybrid Approach to Parallelization of Monte Carlo Tree Search in General Game Playing. In: Trė, G., Grzegorzewski, P., Kacprzyk, J., Owsiński, J., Penczek, W., Zadrożny, S. (eds) Challenging Problems and Solutions in Intelligent Systems. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 634. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30165-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30165-5_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30164-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30165-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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