3 ms·

> Engines treat these like any other line, without prejudice. i'm not sure if i'm understanding 100% what you're saying but don't most engine heuristics try mo

• codeflo 5y ago
  You’re correct. The more aggressive version of this is called “move pruning”, effectively cutting off entire branches of the search tree. Techniques like this are essential for the strength of modern chess engines, but like every heuristic, they can be wrong. Sometimes, the engine makes a mistake because it literally didn’t consider a certain response.
• dalbasal 5y ago
  Kind of, but they don't know which one is more favourable and resources are limited. If there are lots of seemingly OK options, an engine will have to spread those resources and explore lots of moves. Chess engines tend to find good moves that seem really passive to humans. They don't create a threat or force an exchange. The purpose of the move may not be that complex, the payoff will become obvious 2-3 moves later. A human just wouldn't have thought to even explore it. There are no hints (like threats and exchanges) that it is worth exploring. That's what I meant by prejudice. Conversely, even in very option-rich positions... humans will explore the more active lines, and calculate material exchanges more deeply than other moves. If a normal player is calculating 7 moves deep in the mid game, that probably means a lot of material is being exchanged. Remember that an equally matched engine is exploring for more moves than you are. The human is better at deciding which move to explore.