Kei Takada, a Japanese computer scientist affiliated with the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido. Along with Masaya Honjo, Hiroyuki Iizuka, and Masahito Yamamoto, Kei Takada is author of the Hex playing program Ezo, which played the 17th Computer Olympiad in Yokohama 2013, and the 18th Computer Olympiad in Leiden 2015. Ezo uses 2-ply alpha-beta search with an evaluation function based on the theory of complex networks. The function combines a betweenness measure of the player’s two sides with a shortest path metric that accounts for the degree of important nodes, further elaborted by Kei Takada at the Advances in Computer Games 14 conference in Leiden 2015 [1]. EZO switches to a Hexy-style evaluation when remaining time becomes short [2].
Kei Takada [3]

Selected Publications

• Kei Takada, Masaya Honjo, Hiroyuki Iizuka, Masahito Yamamoto (2015). Developing Computer Hex using Global and Local Evaluation based on Board Network Characteristics. Advances in Computer Games 14, slides as pdf
• Ryan Hayward, Jakub Pawlewicz, Kei Takada, Tony van der Valk (2017). MOHEX Wins 2015 Hex 11x11 and Hex 13x13 Tournaments. ICGA Journal, Vol. 39, No. 1 » 18th Computer Olympiad

References

1. ^ Kei Takada, Masaya Honjo, Hiroyuki Iizuka, Masahito Yamamoto (2015). Developing Computer Hex using Global and Local Evaluation based on Board Network Characteristics. Advances in Computer Games 14, slides as pdf
2. ^ Ryan Hayward, Broderick Arneson, Shih-Chieh Huang, Jakub Pawlewicz (2013). MOHEX Wins Hex Tournament. ICGA Journal, Vol. 36, No. 3, pdf
3. ^ Image cropped from 18th Computer Olympid - Day 5 Photos by Jan Krabbenbos, Price giving in Hex

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