From 15 till 19 October 2012 the 'Man vs Machine' Havannah Challenge took place, to decide if Christian Freeling's claim from summer 2002 holds true. The claim being that no computer program can beat him once in a 10 games Havannah match on a base-10 board. He wagered €1000.- prize money for the one(s) that could do so within the next decade. So the time had come ...

 

Three talented program(mer)s took up the gauntlet:

• Timo Ewalds with Castro
• Marcin Ciura with Lajkonik
• Richard Lorentz with Wanderer

The match ended in a 7-3 score for humanity. Still, this means the claim was succesfully challenged by the machines. Congratulations to them and their makers. Christian acknowledges and respects the level of play these programs have achieved.

Here you'll find all 10 games played, with commentary from top Havannah player Ton van der Valk.