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Subject: Re: Basic questions about alpha beta

Author: John Coffey

Date: 13:48:57 09/28/98

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On September 28, 1998 at 15:05:52, Chris Carson wrote:
>Take a look at the following links:
>
>http://www.xs4all.nl/~verhelst/chess/ - click on "Chess Tree Search"
>
>http://www.npac.syr.edu/copywrite/pcw/node341.html
>   - click on "Sequential Computer Chess"
>
>http://www.maths.nott.ac.uk/personal/anw/G13GT1/compch.html
>
>Best Regards,
>Chris Carson

Thanks these are helpful.   The first one contains the pseudo-code
that I had already seen.   Wihtout fully understanding how
it works, I can use it as a starting point.   Some questions ...

int AlphaBeta (pos, depth, alpha, beta)
{
    if (depth == 0)
         return Evaluate(pos);
    best = -INFINITY;
    succ = Successors(pos);
    while (not Empty(succ) && best < beta)
    {
        pos = RemoveOne(succ);
        if (best > alpha) alpha = best;
        value = -AlphaBeta(pos, depth-1, -beta, -alpha);
        if (value > best) best = value;
     }
  return best;
}

This code I understand, but .....

my question is about the following ....

"A fail low is when you search a position and return a score <= alpha.  A fail
high is when you return a score that is >= beta."

What are the significance of "fail low" and "fail high" and how do they
affect the search?

John Coffey



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