This form of search, deep analyses of single lines of play, I have called
"playout analysis" <http://satirist.org/learn-game/inspire/playout.html>,
by analogy to the "rollout analysis" done by backgammon programs.
It is an interesting question, what kind of information one can gain from
playout analysis. I would say: not only the scores. My program Go81
uses playout analysis to determine critical eye-forming points
and the focus of the game in general. One could also use the covariance of
owning a certain point on the board with the total score, over all the
final board positions in playout analysis. It measures approximatively
how important certain point (or area) is for the whole result.