Ingo Althöfer

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Ingo Althöfer, a German mathematician, computer scientist, game researcher, game inventor, and full professor at Faculy for Mathematics and Computer Science, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena.

Ingo Althöfer's professional as well as private research interests cover a broad range of AI-issues, search algorithms, evaluation, creating and inventing new, interesting games such as EinStein würfelt nicht!, and triple-brain (3-Hirn) (two- or k-best mode, where an arbiter instance choses from the best moves provided by one or more chess-programs). 3-Hirn has become a "brand name" for books, games and software, distributed by Ingo's small publishing company 3-Hirn-Verlag. Along with his former student Timo Klaustermeyer, he introduced the concept of freestyle chess within a Blitz tournament in August 2004.

=Photos=

Chess960CWC 2005
Chess960CWC 2005: Peter Svidler, Arbiter Ingo Althöfer and Roland Pfister

Tilburg 2011
Ingo Althöfer and Richard J. Lorentz playing EinStein würfelt nicht! at the 16th Computer Olympiad, 2011

=3-Hirn's Motto= By Christian Posthoff and Günter Reinemann 1987 : Nicht Der Mensch kann, aber die Maschine nicht... oder Der Mensch kann nicht, aber die Maschine kann... sondern Der Mensch kann, aber Mensch und Maschine zusammen können (viel mehr). Not Humans can, but machine can not... or Humans cannot, but machine can... but Humans can, but humans and machine together can (much more).

=Selected Publications=

1985 ...

 * Ingo Althöfer (1985). Das 3-Hirn - Entscheidungsteilung im Schach. Computerschach und Spiele, pp. 20-22.
 * Ingo Althöfer (1986). Asymptotic Properties of Certain Competition Systems in Artificial Intelligence and Ecology. Ph.D. thesis, University of Bielefeld, advisor Rudolf Ahlswede
 * Ingo Althöfer (1988). Das 3-Hirn-Konzept. MODUL, pp. 42-46
 * Ingo Althöfer (1988). Root Evaluation Errors: How they Arise and Propagate. ICCA Journal, Vol. 11, Nos. 2/3
 * Ingo Althöfer (1988). On the Complexity of Searching Game Trees and Other Recursion Trees. Journal of Algorithms, Vol. 9, No. 4
 * Ingo Althöfer (1989). An Incremental Negamax Algorithm. Advances in Computer Chess 5
 * Ingo Althöfer (1989). Generalized Minimax Algorithms are no Better Error Correctors than Minimax Itself. Advances in Computer Chess 5
 * Ingo Althöfer (1989). Retrograde Analysis and two Computerizable Definitions of the Quality of Chess Games. ICCA Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2
 * Ingo Althöfer (1989). A Summary of some Results in Theoretical Game Tree Search and the 'Dreihirn'-Experiment. Workshop on New Directions in Game-Tree Search

1990 ...

 * Ingo Althöfer (1990). Compressing Chess Games with the Help of a fast Deterministic Chess Program. ICCA Journal, Vol. 13, No. 4
 * Ingo Althöfer, Klaus-Uwe Koschnick (1991). On the convergence of “Threshold Accepting”. Applied Mathematics and Optimization, Vol. 24, No. 1 » Simulated Annealing
 * Ingo Althöfer (1991). On pathology in game tree and other recursion tree models. Habilitation Thesis (June 1991), Faculty of Mathematics, University of Bielefeld.
 * Ingo Althöfer (1991). An Additive Evaluation Function in Chess. ICCA Journal, Vol. 14, No. 3
 * Ingo Althöfer (1991). Selective trees and majority systems: two experiments with commercial chess computers. Advances in Computer Chess 6
 * Ingo Althöfer (1991): Data compression using an intelligent generator: The storage of chess games as an example. Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 52, No. 1
 * Rudolf Ahlswede, Ingo Althöfer (1991). The Asymptotic Behaviour of Diameters in the Average. University of Bielefeld, zipped ps
 * Ingo Althöfer, Bernhard Balkenhol (1991). A Game Tree with Distinct Leaf Values which is Easy for the Alpha-Beta Algorithm. Artificial Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2
 * Ingo Althöfer, Torsten Sillke (1992). An "Average Distance" Inequality for Subsets of the Cube. Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, Vol. 56
 * Ingo Althöfer (1992). On Asymmetries in Chess Programs. ICCA Journal, Vol. 15, No. 1
 * Ingo Althöfer (1992). Move Ordering by Time Ordering. Correspondence, ICCA Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2 » Root Move Ordering
 * Ingo Althöfer (1993). A Parallel Game Tree Search Algorithm with a Linear Speedup. Journal of Algorithms, Vol. 15, No. 2
 * Ingo Althöfer (1993). Das 3-Hirn - Eine Zwischenbilanz. Computerschach und Spiele
 * Ingo Althöfer (1993). On Telescoping Linear Evaluation Functions. ICCA Journal, Vol. 16, No. 2
 * Ingo Althöfer, Klaus-Uwe Koschnick (1993). On the Deterministic Complexity of Searching Local Maxima. Discrete Applied Mathematics, Vol. 43, No. 2
 * Ingo Althöfer, Chrilly Donninger, Ulf Lorenz, Valentin Rottmann (1994). On Timing, Permanent Brain and Human Intervention. Advances in Computer Chess 7
 * Ingo Althöfer, Bernhard Walter (1994). Weak Zugzwang: Statistics on some Chess Endgames. ICCA Journal, Vol. 17, No. 2

1995 ...

 * Ingo Althöfer, Imre Leader (1995). Correlation of Boolean Functions and Pathology in Recursion Trees. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics, Vol. 8, No. 4
 * Ingo Althöfer (1996). Doppelfritz mit Chef. Computerschach und Spiele, October. pp. 33-36
 * Ingo Althöfer (1996). Meine Geschichte mit dem Mehrvarianten-Modus. Computerschach und Spiele. December, p. 56.
 * Ingo Althöfer (1997). A Symbiosis of Man and Machine Beats Grandmaster Timoshchenko. ICCA Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1
 * Ingo Althöfer (1997). On the k-best Mode in Computer Chess: Measuring the Similarity of Move Proposals. ICCA Journal, Vol. 20, No. 3
 * Ingo Althöfer (1998). LIST-3-HIRN vs. Grandmaster Yusupov. - A Report on a Very Experimental Match, Part I: The Games. ICCA Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1
 * Ingo Althöfer (1998). 13 Jahre 3-Hirn – Meine Schach-Experimente mit Mensch-Maschinen-Kombinationen. ISBN 3-00-003100-6.
 * Ingo Althöfer (1999). Advanced Shuffle Chess with Technical Improvements. ICCA Journal, Vol. 22, No. 4

2000 ...

 * Ingo Althöfer, Ning Cai, Gunter Dueck, Levon Khachatrian, Mark S. Pinsker, András Sárközy, Ingo Wegener, Zhen Zhang (Eds.) (2000). Numbers, Information and Complexity. 50 articles in honour of Rudolf Ahlswede, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston
 * Ingo Althöfer (2000). A One-Sided Advanced Chess Match. Part 1: The Games. ICGA Journal, Vol. 23, No. 3
 * Ingo Althöfer (2001). Grandmaster Chess with one-sided Computer Help. ICGA Journal, Vol. 24, No.4
 * Ingo Althöfer (2002). Clobber – A New Game with Very Simple Rules. ICGA Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2
 * Ingo Althöfer (2002). Inventing Game Variants with Computer Help. 7th Computer Olympiad Workshop
 * Ingo Althöfer, Raymond Georg Snatzke (2002). Playing Games with Multiple Choice Systems. CG 2002
 * Ingo Althöfer (2003). A 20-Choice Experiment in Go for Human+Computer. ICGA Journal, Vol. 26, No. 2
 * Ingo Althöfer, Jens Lieberum, Johan de Koning, Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, Thomas Rolle, Jörg Sameith (2003). Five visualizations of the k-best mode. ICGA Journal, Vol. 26, No. 3
 * Ingo Althöfer (2003). Computer-Aided Game Inventing. Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, pdf
 * Ingo Althöfer (2004). Improved game play by multiple computer hints. Theoretical Computer Science, Vol. 313, No. 3

2005 ...

 * Ingo Althöfer, Susanne Heuser (2005). Randomised Evaluations in Single-Agent Search. ICGA Journal, Vol. 28, No. 1
 * Ingo Althöfer (2008). On the Laziness of Monte-Carlo Game Tree Search in Non-tight Situations. Technical Report, pdf » Monte-Carlo Tree Search

2010 ...
2011 2012 2013 2014
 * Ingo Althöfer (2010). Automatic Generation and Evaluation of Recombination Games. Doctoral Dissertation by Cameron Browne, Review, ICGA Journal, Vol. 33, No. 4
 * Ingo Althöfer (2010). Game Self-Play with Pure Monte-Carlo: The Basin Structure. pdf » Monte-Carlo Tree Search
 * Ingo Althöfer (2011). John Tromp in the Style of David Levy: 4-0 win in the Go bet. ICGA Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2 » John Tromp
 * Ingo Althöfer (2011). On Board-Filling Games with Random-Turn Order and Monte Carlo Perfectness. Advances in Computer Games 13
 * Ingo Althöfer (2011). On Games with Random-Turn Order and Monte Carlo Perfectness. ICGA Journal, Vol. 34, No. 4
 * Ingo Althöfer (2012). The Origin of Dynamic Komi. ICGA Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1
 * Ingo Althöfer (2012). Side Report: Popular Video Livestream. ICGA Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1 » Advances in Computer Games 13
 * Ingo Althöfer (2012). PAN wins Clobber Tournament. ICGA Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1 » 16th Computer Olympiad
 * Ingo Althöfer (2012). Havannah – The Old Man and the C’s. ICGA Journal, Vol. 35, No. 4 » Havannah
 * Ingo Althöfer (2013). Remarks on History and Presence of Game Tree Search and Research. Information Theory, Combinatorics, and Search Theory - In Memory of Rudolf Ahlswede. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, ISBN 978-3-642-36898-1
 * Ingo Althöfer, Wesley Turner (2013). Anomalies of Pure Monte Carlo Search in Monte Carlo Perfect Games. CG 2013
 * Ingo Althöfer (2013). The wild Years are gone: Monte Carlo in Smoother Waters. Conference Report CG 2013, ICGA Journal, Vol. 36, No. 3
 * Ingo Althöfer (2013). PAN Wins Clobber Tournament - King of Clobber - De Koning and his PAN. ICGA Journal, Vol. 36, No. 3 » 17th Computer Olympiad, Johan de Koning
 * Ingo Althöfer, Roland Voigt (2014). Spiele, Rätsel, Zahlen. Springer Spektrum, ISBN 978-3-642-55301-1, Zusatzmaterial (German)
 * Ingo Althöfer, Raymond Georg Snatzke (2014). The codecentric Go Challenge 2014: Franz-Josef Dickhut vs. CRAZY STONE. ICGA Journal, Vol. 37, No. 4

2015 ...
2016 2018
 * Ingo Althöfer, Matthias Beckmann, Friedrich Salzer (2015). On some Random Walk Games with Micro Control. Advances in Computer Games 14
 * Ingo Althöfer, Michael Hartisch (2015). The Effect of Biasing Win Conditions. Game & Puzzle Design, Vol. 1, No. 1
 * Ingo Althöfer (2015). Obituary: John Nash, A Beautiful Mind has Gone. ICGA Journal, Vol. 38, No. 2 » John Nash
 * Michael Hartisch, Ingo Althöfer (2015). Optimal Robot Play in Certain Chess Endgame Situations. ICGA Journal, Vol. 38, No. 3
 * Ingo Althöfer, Richard J. Lorentz, Matthias Beckmann (2015). Advances in Computer Games Conference 2015. Report, ICGA Journal, Vol. 38, No. 3 » Advances in Computer Games 12
 * Ingo Althöfer (2015). HANFRIED wins EinStein Würfelt Nicht! Tournament. ICGA Journal, Vol. 38, No. 4 » 18th Computer Olympiad | EWN
 * Raphael Thiele, Ingo Althöfer (2016). An Analysis of Majority Systems with Dependent Agents in a Simple Subtraction Game. CG 2016
 * Ingo Althöfer (2016). Computer-Aided Go: Chess as a Role Model. CG 2016
 * Ingo Althöfer (2018). Computer-Aided Game Play and Computer Cheating: Examples from Chess, Shogi, and Go. Extended Abstract as pdf

2020 ...

 * Ingo Althöfer (2020). Computer Chess and Chess Computers in East Germany. ICGA Journal, Vol. 42, Nos. 2-3
 * Raphael Thiele, Ingo Althöfer (2020). Analyzing a variant of Clobber: The game of San Jego. ICGA Journal, Vol. 42, No. 4

=Forum Posts=
 * Re: AEGON news 2: dreihirn by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, rgcc, April 24, 1996 » Aegon 1996
 * A diary on 3-Hirn chess by Ingo Althöfer, rgcc, December 27, 1996
 * 3-Hirn History: Game 12 by Ingo Althöfer, rgcc, March 29, 1997 » Aegon 1992, Zugzwang (Program)
 * Multi-Fritz with Boss versus IM R. Vasquez by Ingo Althöfer, CCC, March 09, 1999 » Fritz
 * Artikel von John Nunn by Ingo Althöfer, CSS Forum, January 08, 2014 (German)

=External Links=
 * Ingo Althöfer Homepage
 * Ingo Althöfer from Wikipedia.de (German)
 * Prof. Dr. Ingo Althöfer - Chair Operations Research
 * The Mathematics Genealogy Project - Ingo Althöfer
 * Ingo Althoefer's ICGA Tournaments
 * Palestine Chess Programmers Prize
 * Prof. Ingo Althöfer: Eine tolle Computerschachgeschichte, ChessBase.de, May 10, 2019 (German)

Pictorial Reports
=References=

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