Chess as problem solving: the development of a tactics analyzer.

Abstract : This thesis concerns itself with progress that has been made in the development of a better model of computer chess. The author considers the fact that chess programs have made almost no gain in strength, as measured on the human scale, in the period 1968 - 1973, as indicative that the popular model of computer chess is near the limits of its exploitability. Some indication of why this could be so is provided in a chapter which discusses some very basic flaws in the current popular model of computer chess. Most serious of these is the Horizon Effect which is shown to cause arbitrary errors in the performance of any program employing a maximum depth in conjunction with a quiescence procedure.

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