user47: Computer chess has exploded in the last twenty years, with a computer world championship being established and many chess computer designers becoming quite profitable from their endeavors.  Some of the programs hide their source code, but a great many are open source, most notably Fruit, which served as the basis for a family of chess engines.  
What are some examples of heuristics or algorithms used by chess computers, and which have been most successful or are most popular?

user-1: Algorithms mainly used are based on searching the state space. The problem is that the possible positions a piece can make in the next move is very huge. But it is finite. It is basically a search problem. There is a valid position a piece can take. That is there is a known start state and a know end state. There is no probability involved like the problem of tossing a coin.
A typical algorithm is to use brute force and compute moves for a fixed number of moves. MiniMax can be used in such cases. Alpha-beta pruning is also a well know algorithm used. Mostly the search spaces are represented using a tree based data structure.
Computer program also heavily use databases containing moves, openings, end-game positions etc.

47: <p>Computer chess has exploded in the last twenty years, with a computer world championship being established and many chess computer designers becoming quite profitable from their endeavors.  Some of the programs hide their source code, but a great many are open source, most notably Fruit, which served as the basis for a family of chess engines.  </p>

<p>What are some examples of heuristics or algorithms used by chess computers, and which have been most successful or are most popular?</p>
 -1: <p>Algorithms mainly used are based on searching the state space. The problem is that the possible positions a piece can make in the next move is very huge. But it is finite. It is basically a search problem. There is a valid position a piece can take. That is there is a known start state and a know end state. There is no probability involved like the problem of tossing a coin.<br>
A typical algorithm is to use brute force and compute moves for a fixed number of moves. MiniMax can be used in such cases. Alpha-beta pruning is also a well know algorithm used. Mostly the search spaces are represented using a tree based data structure.<br>
Computer program also heavily use databases containing moves, openings, end-game positions etc.</p>
