computer-go: alpha-beta cautions

[Mika Kojo <mkojo@xxxxxx>]

Dave Dyer writes:
>  There is a very small area where alpha-beta can help; where seeing a few
> moves deeper allows you to see that "something dramatic" actually happen;
> but if your evaluator makes dramatic pronouncements, and is WRONG, 
> alpha-beta will distil your bad evalutions into bizarrely wrong moves.

I cannot see how alpha-beta can be blamed for this. As alpha-beta is
not a heuristic it should not weaken your program. 

The problem most likely is the heuristic evaluation function. In deep
searches even slight mistakes in evaluation can propagate into severe
mistakes.


-- Mika