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Subject: Re: Search algorithms in chess programs

Author: James Swafford

Date: 06:20:17 12/13/01

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On December 13, 2001 at 03:33:07, Wylie Garvin wrote:

>On December 12, 2001 at 23:27:58, Russell Reagan wrote:
>
>>Depth-first search is usually what is used in chess programs (at least all that
>>I have seen source for). What are the drawbacks of other search algorithms such
>>as breadth-first and best-first that prevent them from being more widely used in
>>chess programs?
>
>speed and space requirements.  Keep in mind that since nearly all chess programs
>use iterative deepening on their depth first searches, and since chess has a
>high branching factor, even with all the pruning techniques (well >= 2 anyway),
>this means they are essentially getting a breadth-first search in depth-first
>space, O(ply).  With selective search not all lines have the same "depth", but
>the principle still applies.
>

I agree with all that except the O(ply) part.  I think that implies
a linear growth, when in fact it's closer to O(bf^ply).

--
James



>wylie



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