The heuristic search: An alternative to the alpha—beta minimax procedure

Abstract

Many current computer chess programs use a full-width tree search (e.g., CHESS 4.5 from Northwestern (see Chapter 4), KAISSA from the Institute of Control Science, Moscow [2], and TECH II from MIT). Other programs, such as Berliner’s [12], attempt to perform a highly selective search using extremely sophisticated heuristics. Recent improvements in chess play have come primarily from the programs using the “brute force” procedure. In particular the Northwestern program improved markedly when its plausible move selector was replaced by a full-width search. The development of specialized computer hardware, such as the chess-specific central processor which is being developed at MIT, will further benefit this “brute-strength” approach.