The Computer Olympiads 1989–2021

Abstract

The Computer Olympiads have been held 24 times over the past 33 years. This series of events is an important landmark that demonstrates the progress of artificial intelligence technology applied to games.

This article presents comparative data on the Olympiads. Some entries contain partial information, while a few have conflicting answers. The author asks the ICGA community for help in ensuring that the data is complete and correct.

1. Introduction

The Computer Olympiad was created in 1989 by former ICGA President David Levy. At the time, the only regularly-scheduled games competitions for computers were for chess. The Olympiad idea expanded this to a rich variety of games, encouraging the expansion of AI research into new and challenging domains. The planned annual event would bring researchers, hobbyists and companies together to compete. Anyone could enter and compete for the gold, silver, and bronze medal in each event.

Since its inception, there have been 24 Computer Olympiads. Authoritative data on this long-running scientific event is, in some cases, unclear. This article presents statistics on the events. We are asking for your help in correcting any errors, of which there are undoubtedly some.

The Olympiad data in the following table comes primarily from two sources:

Wikipedia: Computer Olympiad, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Olympiad

Chess Programming Wiki: Computer Olympiad (and individual Olympiad links), https://www.chessprogramming.org/Computer_Olympiad

There are various books and ICGA Journal articles that report on individual Olympiads (the numerous citations are not given here) that have been used for this report. In addition, there has been correspondence with some of the organizers of the events.

Note that some of the information reported here varies depending on the source used. We appreciate hearing from any readers who can make authoritative corrections to the table. Please contact [e-mail].

Thank you.

2. Computer Olympiads 1989–2021 data

A summary of the Olympiads can be found in Table 1.

Legend

# = Olympiad Number (1–1989 to 24–2021)

Location = City/Country where the Olympiad was held

#P = Number of participants in the Olympiad

#C = Number of competitions in the Olympiad

Games = Games contested. Where applicable, the board size used for the game is given.

Notes

• Some of the Olympiads had a co-located World Computer Chess Championship. Data on these events has been excluded from the table.

• Most Olympiads have a co-located computer games conference. Participants in the conference are not included in the Olympiad totals.

Statistics

• Most number of games competed in an Olympiad is 24 (in 2019).

• Most number of participating programs in an Olympiad is 108 (in 2010).

• The game most contested in the Olympiads is Chinese Chess (22 times), followed by Go 9×9 (21 times), Amazons (19 times), Go 19×19 (18 times), and Draughts (18 times).

• Olympiad games that have solved: Checkers, Connect Four, and Nine Men’s Morris.

Table 1

Computer Olympiads 1–24

Year	#	Location	#P	#C	Games
1989	1	London, United Kingdom	44	15	Awari, Backgammon, Bridge, Checkers, Chess, Chinese Chess, Connect Four, Dominoes, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Gomoku, Othello 8×8, Renju, Scrabble
1990	2	London, United Kingdom	36	13	Awari, Backgammon, Bridge, Chess, Chinese Chess, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Gomoku, Othello 8×8, Qubic, Renju, Scrabble
1991	3	Maastricht, The Netherlands	36	14	Awari, Backgammon, Bridge, Chess, Chinese Chess, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Gomoku, Nine Men’s Morris, Othello 8×8, Qubic, Renju, Scrabble
1992	4	London, United Kingdom	At least 37	13	Awari, Backgammon, Bridge, Chess, Chinese Chess, Draughts, Gin Rummy, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Gomoku, Othello 8×8, Renju, Scrabble
1993–1999		No Olympiads
2000	5	London, United Kingdom	37	7	Amazons, Awari, Chess, Go 19×19, Hex 11×11, Lines of Action, Shogi
2001	6	Maastricht, The Netherlands	33	6	Amazons, Chess, Chinese Chess, GIPF, Lines of Action, Shogi
2002	7	Maastricht, The Netherlands	61	11	Amazons, Backgammon, Bridge, Chess, Chinese Chess, Dots and Boxes, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Lines of Action, Shogi
2003	8	Graz, Austria	52	12	Abalone, Amazons, Backgammon, Chinese Chess, Dots and Boxes, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Hex 11×11, Lines of Action, Poker, Shogi
2004	9	Ramat-Gan, Israel	26	7	Amazons, Chinese Chess, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Hex 11×11, Lines of Action, Octi
2005	10	Taipei, Taiwan	46	8	Amazons, Chinese Chess, Clobber, Dots and Boxes, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Pool, Shogi
2006	11	Turin, Italy	49	12	Backgammon, Chinese Chess, Clobber, Connect6, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Hex 11×11, Kriegspiel, Lines of Action, Pool, Shogi
2007	12	Amsterdam, The Netherlands	46	10	Amazons, Backgammon, Chinese Chess, Connect6, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Phantom Go, Shogi, Surakarta
2008	13	Beijing, China	84	12	Amazons, Chinese Chess, Connect6, Dots and Boxes, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Hex 11×11, Phantom Go, Pool, Shogi, Surakarta
2009	14	Pamplona, Spain	48	12	Amazons, Chinese Chess, Connect6, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 19×19, Havannah, Hex 11×11, Kriegspiel, Lines of Action, Phantom Go, Shogi
2010	15	Kanazawa, Japan	108	20	Amazons, Chinese Chess, Chinese Dark Chess, Clobber, Connect6, Dots and Boxes, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 13×13, Go 19×19, Havannah, Hex 11×11, Light Up, Nonogram, Nurikabe, Phantom Go, Quoridor, Shogi, Shogi (Mini), Surakarta
2011	16	Tilburg, The Netherlands	74	18	Amazons, Backgammon, Chinese Chess, Chinese Dark Chess, Clobber, Connect6, Dots and Boxes, Draughts, EinStein Würfelt Nicht, Go 9×9, Go 13×13, Go 19×19, Havannah, Hex 11×11, NoGo, Phantom Go, Shogi, Surakarta
2012		No Olympiad
2013	17	Yokohama, Japan	79	15	Amazons, Chinese Chess, Chinese Dark Chess, Clobber, Connect6, Draughts, Go 9×9, Go 13×13, Go 19×19, Hex 11×11, Lines of Action, Nonogram, Shogi, Shogi 5×5, Shogi (Chu),
2014		No Olympiad
2015	18	Leiden, The Netherlands	73	16	Amazons, Backgammon, Chinese Chess, Chinese Dark Chess, Clobber, Draughts, EinStein Würfelt Nicht, Go 9×9, Go 13×13,Go 19×19, Hex 11×11, Hex 13×13, Lines of Action, Shogi, Shogi (Mini), Shogi (Tori)
2016	19	Leiden, The Netherlands	49	11	Amazons, Backgammon, Chinese Chess, Chinese Dark Chess, Clobber, Draughts, EinStein Würfelt Nicht, Go 9×9, Go 13×13, Go 19×19, Shogi (Mini)
2017	20	Leiden, The Netherlands	60	15	Amazons, Breakthrough, Chinese Chess, Chinese Dark Chess, Draughts, EinStein Würfelt Nicht, Go 9×9, Go 13×13, Go 19×19, Hex 11×11, Hex 13×13, Lines of Action, Othello 8×8, Othello 10×10, Shogi
2018	21	Taipei, Taiwan	103	22	Amazons, Block Go, Breakthrough, Chinese Checkers, Chinese Chess, Chinese Dark Chess, Connect6, Curling (Digital), EinStein Würfelt Nicht, Go 9×9, Gomoku (Deep Learning), Gomoku (Outer-Open), Hex 9×9, Hex 13×13, Mahjong, Nonogram, Othello 8×8, Othello 10×10, Shogi (Dice), Shogi (Kyoto), Shogi (Mini), Surakarta
2019	22	Macau, China	88	24	Amazons, Block Go, Breakthrough, Chinese Checkers, Chinese Chess, Chinese Dark Chess, Connect6, Dots and Boxes, Draughts, EinStein Würfelt Nicht, Go 9×9, Gomoku (Outer-Open), Hex 11×11, Hex 13×13, Mahjong, NoGo, Nonogram, Othello 8×8, Othello 10×10, Othello 16×16, Shogi 5×5, Shogi (Dice), Shogi (Kyoto), Shogi (Mini), Surakarta
2020	23	Online	65	21	Amazons, Breakthrough, Chinese Checkers, Chinese Dark Chess, Clobber, Connect6, Dots and Boxes, Draughts, EinStein Würfelt Nicht, Go 9×9, Gomoku (Outer Open), Havannah, Hex 13×13, Honeymoon Bridge, Mahjong, Nonogram, Othello 8×8, Othello 10×10, Shogi (Mini), Surakarta
2021	24	Online	60	22	Amazons, Brazilian Draughts, Breakthrough, Canadian Draughts, Chinese Chess, Chinese Dark Chess, Connect6, Draughts, EinStein Würfelt Nicht, Go 9×9, Gomoku (Outer-Open), Havannah 8×8, Havannah 10×10, Hex 11×11, Hex 13×13, Hex 19×19, Mahjong, Nonogram, Othello 8×8, Shogi (Mini), Surakarta, Sylver Coinage