Author: S J J
Date: 07:09:59 06/13/04
I've read that the use of Alpha Beta searches can double the
number of ply a program is evaluating.
On the surface, it looks like both a MinMax and AlphaBeta searches
evaluate the same set of moves that have been generated (Alpha Beta
being able to avoid searching select branches).
To look twice the number of ply deeper, those positions would first
need to be generated. I'd expect generation of the 2X ply to take a
great amount of time compared to the time saved by Alpha Beta.
I suspect that "somehow" Alpha Beta enables one to not only avoid
evaluating certain branches, but, also avoid the need to generate them
in the first place.
In my program, the amount of time needed to generate the moves is
several times what it takes to evaluate those moves, so I'm assuming
to get the deepest search, Alpha Beta helps trim the number of branches
that generate moves.
Any clarification would be appreciated.
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