Build a Competent Mini-Chess Player

CS 442/542 Homework 3
Due Friday 8 May 2009

Follow the instructions from the Mini-Chess tutorial to add do-undo, αβ pruning, and an improved evaluator to your Mini-Chess player.

To evaluate the results of this work, compare the node count and search depth performance of do-undo to non-do-undo, and of αβ to non-αβ. Compare the win rate of your improved evaluator to a straight standard piece count evaluator.

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Homework should be submitted by e-mail to <cs542-hw@wiki.cs.pdx.edu>. The string "CS 542 HW3" should appear somewhere in the subject line. The submission should be in the form of a tar or zip archive containing all source code and instructions to build and test the program.

The homework submission should also include a brief writeup in ASCII text or PDF (i.e. no Word docs or other magic formats) describing the work done and the results. Try to present the sort of exposition that lets me understand your solution, and the scientific ideas and engineering compromises behind it. Remember, if I can't understand your submission, I can't give you credit for it.