Preface
"Suphx" (Super Phoenix) is a mahjong AI developed by Microsoft that has repeatedly competed on the online mahjong site Tenhou.
This AI has played over 5,000 games in Tenhou's 4-player Special Table East-South format, achieving a stable rank of 8.75 dan and reaching 10th dan twice.
This is an outstanding achievement, and it suggests that this AI offers many valuable lessons regarding mahjong playing techniques.
This book, "The Impact of Suphx, the World's Strongest Mahjong AI," focuses on the AI's moves, exploring the "correct" criteria for various decisions in mahjong, and serves as a useful tactical guide.
The author is "Oshirase," the 14th Tenhou Champion (4-player game).
As mentioned in the afterword of this book, this book is not a research book on AI,This book is written with the intention of being useful as a mahjong strategy guide.
We'll assume Suphx's judgment is correct for now, explore the criteria the AI uses to make its decisions, and explain the related aspects.
The content is somewhat advanced, and I think it's geared towards players at the level of the Phoenix Table in Tenhou (an online mahjong platform).
I'm a player who has played about 1500 games on Tenhou, maintaining a stable rank of around 6.1, and has reached the level where I can play in the Phoenix Table, but I'm too afraid of losing to actually play.
This book features content that I had never even considered during a game, making me realize the difference in skill level.
However, at the same time, it's also true that I felt a renewed desire to learn new ways of thinking.
This book contained stimulating content for my mind, which had become somewhat haphazard and unconsciously prone to typing.
Contents of this book
Now, let's start by looking at the table of contents of this book.
The table of contents can also be viewed for free on the Amazon product page.
(Therefore, I decided it would be okay to post it.)
This book is divided into four main chapters.
In this book, each section begins with an image of an actual tile played by Suphx, followed by an explanation.
To give an analogy, it's like having the Tenhou champion announcer provide commentary on a match between the master Suphx and another player.
While it can be used as a problem set for "what to discard" type questions, it's better to focus on "what criteria should be used to make that decision?" rather than using it in that way.
It's important to understand what the correct answer is in a way that you can actually use it in practice, rather than simply memorizing it.
Summary and impressions of this book
For each chapter, I will write about what it says and share my impressions of it.
If any of the topics pique your interest, please consider purchasing and reading the book.
Chapter 1: Becoming Stronger
Chapter 1 mainly discusses the premise of this book, such as Suphx's strengths and what it means to become strong at mahjong.
This book includes general information about mahjong, such as what it takes to become a strong player.
Even something as simple as tile efficiency made me acutely aware of the shallowness of my understanding of the value and function of each individual tile.
Just by reading this chapter, you should be able to sense that this book is intended for advanced readers.
Chapter 2: Standard Push and Pull
This chapter discusses "standard push-and-pull strategies," but it was different from what I had imagined.
As far as I understand it, "pushing and pulling" refers to deciding whether to push or pull in response to other players' declarations of riichi or melds.
However, the concept of push and pull in this book was something that was consciously considered much earlier than I had imagined.
Furthermore, even when simply pressing, there are many factors to consider, such as how to press and the number of sheets to press.
This content is very useful because it provides insights into checkpoints I had never considered before.
Chapter 3: Streamlining the Mid-Game
As you can see from this item, Chapter 3 has a remarkably specific title compared to the other chapters.
This might be because the content written there differs from current standards.
One of Suphx's distinguishing features is its tendency to give stricter evaluations to tiles that are likely to become dangerous in the future.
This chapter discusses related aspects of streamlining, such as cutting back on certain items, and the criteria to consider when making such decisions.
The strategy of getting rid of dangerous tiles first is necessary to prevent losing points.
Suphx appears to be considering preventing goals conceded from a very early stage.
Chapter 4: Initial Strategy
We are analyzing Suphx's strategy based on differences in scores and initial hand development.
It seems that some moves are made with a far-forward perspective, something that is difficult for us humans to perceive.
The Google-developed Go AI, "AlphaGo," which was a hot topic some time ago, sometimes made moves that seemed incomprehensible to us at first glance, but later proved to have important meaning.
These are some things that are quite difficult for humans to perceive, but I think that keeping them in mind will allow you to access them more effectively.
Afterword
This was a brief overview of "The Impact of Suphx, the World's Strongest Mahjong AI."
While the content was quite advanced for me, I found it very valuable to learn even a part of the mindset of a top mahjong player.
Lately, I've strongly felt that I've been oversimplifying my thinking and typing carelessly.
When trying to acquire a skill, you can at least get closer to it by imitating a model.
This book made me realize that I need to continuously practice so that I can hit the ball in the same way as the example, at an unconscious level.
A collection of articles on improving your mahjong skills, techniques, mental game, Tenhou (online mahjong platform), etc.
