Prof. Richard Lorentz (California State University) is
the father of strong computer bots for several rather different games:
Invader for the game of Amazons.
Wanderer for the game of Havannah.
Another version of Wanderer for the game of Brakthrough.
Invader won several medals in the Computer Olympiads for Amazons:
Bronze in 2001, 2002, Silver in 2003, 2005, Gold in 2008,
2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017.
Wanderer got the Havannah Silver medal in the Computer Olympiad 2010,
and Gold in the inofficial competition of 2009.
The Breakthrough-Wanderer won also Gold medals in the Computer
Olympiads where it participated. On the internet server LittleGolem,
Wanderer is the undisputed number 1 in the rating list (at least
until March 2019).
All three bots, Invader and the Wanderers, contain Monte-Carlo elements.
In April 2011, Richard Lorentz (California State University at Northridge) took three weeks of his sabbatical to stay with my group at Jena University. It became a highlight for our students. Here are a few pictorial impressions, from his Amazons talk in the seminar.
