In the past, yes. That was essentially the approach up until the 1980s. Computers were too slow to run millions of evaluations per move, so you got a lot of eff

In the past, yes. That was essentially the approach up until the 1980s. Computers were too slow to run millions of evaluations per move, so you got a lot of efforts in a more heuristic-driven direction. Examples of heuristic engines are Hans Berliner’s CAPS-II and PARADISE by David Wilkins. PARADISE used a database of 200 rules. There are also engines that try to retroactively apply rules to Stockfish evals but they’re fairly confusing in my experience. It’s like being told the answer and having to come up with a reason after the fact.