Author: Dan Honeycutt
Date: 12:20:56 10/11/05
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Hi Chandler Here is approximately how a modern program looks at a position: First you see if you can get out without searching any moves - hash table info or a draw by repitition. Next you see if you can get out with only a reduced depth search of 1 move - a null move. If those two steps fail you see if you can get out by searching only 1 move - you look for a good move from the hash table or other heuristics. If your position is "too good" this will be possible. This is called a beta cut. If you don't get a beta cut in a few moves, you start considering that your position, rather than "too good" is, instead, crap. You then begin throwing away moves that don't appear to offer some quick gain. This is called pruning. When all is said and done, and your search is complete, you end up searching about 3 moves per position. Any engine that runs a naked min max search looking at all moves in each position will be crushed. Best Dan H.
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