Deep Learning and the Game of Go

Chapter 4. Playing games with tree search

This chapter covers

• Finding the best move with the minimax algorithm
• Pruning minimax tree search to speed it up
• Applying Monte Carlo tree search to games

Suppose you’re given two tasks. The first is to write a computer program that plays chess. The second is to write a program that plans how to efficiently pick orders in a warehouse. What could these programs have in common? At first glance, not much. But if you step back and think in abstract terms, you can see a few parallels:

• You have a sequence of decisions to make. In chess, your decisions are about which piece to move. In the warehouse, your decisions are about which item to pick up next.
• Early decisions can affect future decisions. In chess, ...