David Richerby wrote:
Guy Macon http://www.guymacon.com/ wrote:
I wonder if some variation on the backgammon doubling method of
forcing a losing player to resign might work...

Doubling only works in matches. In a tournament, the correct
procedure would be for each player to double every move so that
whoever wins gets the highest possible score.


Dave.


Not if you change the basic scoring to [-1, 0, +1] and you double BOTH
the positive gain for a win and the negative score for a loss.

Note that without the doubling, [-1,0,1] is the same as [0, 0.5, 1.0].

I suspect the actual effect would be to increase the number of draws.
After a few doubles, it becomes too expensive to take a risk and play
for the win.

Imagine how backgammon would change if you allowed players to agree to a
draw.

--
Kenneth Sloan
Computer and Information Sciences +1-205-932-2213
University of Alabama at Birmingham FAX +1-205-934-5473
Birmingham, AL 35294-1170 http://KennethRSloan.com/