Why it matters

Alpha-beta shapes classical game AI. Understanding shapes chess engines.

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The architecture

Alpha: best guaranteed for maximizer.

Beta: best guaranteed for minimizer.

Prune when alpha >= beta.

Alpha-beta pruningAlpha, BetaboundsExplore childrenin orderPrunewhen alpha >= betaGood move ordering exponentially helps; killer heuristic + history + iterative deepening improve
Alpha-beta.
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How it works end to end

Good ordering: b^(d/2) vs b^d.

Killer heuristic.

History heuristic.

Iterative deepening feeds ordering.