Adversarial Search

Adversarial Search
• Adversarial search is a search, where we examine the problem which arises
when we try to plan of the world and other agents are planning against us.
• We have studied the search strategies which are only associated with a single
agent that aims to find the solution which often expressed in the form of a
sequence of actions.
• But, there might be some situations where more than one agent is searching
for the solution in the same search space, and this situation usually occurs in
game playing.
• The environment with more than one agent is termed as multi-agent
environment, in which each agent is an opponent of other agent and playing
against each other. Each agent needs to consider the action of other agent and
effect of that action on their performance.
• So, Searches in which two or more players with conflicting goals are trying to
explore the same search space for the solution, are called adversarial searches,
often known as Games.
• Games are modeled as a Search problem and heuristic evaluation function, and
these are the two main factors which help to model and solve games in AI.
 Types of Games in AI
• Perfect information: A game with the perfect information is that in which agents
can look into the complete board. Agents have all the information about the
game, and they can see each other moves also. Examples are Chess, Checkers,
Go, etc.
• Imperfect information: If in a game agents do not have all information about the
game and not aware with what's going on, such type of games are called the
game with imperfect information, such as tic-tac-toe, Battleship, blind, Bridge,
etc.
• Deterministic games: Deterministic games are those games which follow a strict
pattern and set of rules for the games, and there is no randomness associated
with them. Examples are chess, Checkers, Go, tic-tac-toe, etc.
• Non-deterministic games: Non-deterministic are those games which have
various unpredictable events and has a factor of chance or luck. This factor of
chance or luck is introduced by either dice or cards. These are random, and each
action response is not fixed. Such games are also called as stochastic games.
Example: Backgammon, Monopoly, Poker, etc.
 Formalization of the problem
• A game can be defined as a type of search in AI which can be formalized of
the following elements:
• Initial state: It specifies how the game is set up at the start.
• Player(s): It specifies which player has moved in the state space.
• Action(s): It returns the set of legal moves in state space.
• Result(s, a): It is the transition model, which specifies the result of moves in the
state space.
• Terminal-Test(s): Terminal test is true if the game is over, else it is false at any case.
The state where the game ends is called terminal states.
• Utility(s, p): A utility function gives the final numeric value for a game that ends in
terminal states s for player p. It is also called payoff function. For Chess, the
outcomes are a win, loss, or draw and its payoff values are +1, 0, ½. And for tic-tac-
toe, utility values are +1, -1, and 0.
• Game tree:
• A game tree is a tree where nodes of the tree are the game states and Edges of the
tree are the moves by players. Game tree involves initial state, actions function, and
result Function.
 Example: Tic-Tac-Toe game tree
• The following figure is showing
part of the game-tree for tic-
tac-toe game. Following are
some key points of the game:
• There are two players MAX and
MIN.
• Players have an alternate turn
and start with MAX.
• MAX maximizes the result of the
game tree
• MIN minimizes the result.
 Example: Tic-Tac-Toe game tree
• From the initial state, MAX has 9 possible moves as he starts first. MAX place x
and MIN place o, and both player plays alternatively until we reach a leaf node
where one player has three in a row or all squares are filled.
• Both players will compute each node, minimax, the minimax value which is the
best achievable utility against an optimal adversary.
• Suppose both the players are well aware of the tic-tac-toe and playing the best
play. Each player is doing his best to prevent another one from winning. MIN is
acting against Max in the game.
• So in the game tree, we have a layer of Max, a layer of MIN, and each layer is
called as Ply. Max place x, then MIN puts o to prevent Max from winning, and
this game continues until the terminal node.
• In this either MIN wins, MAX wins, or it's a draw. This game-tree is the whole
search space of possibilities that MIN and MAX are playing tic-tac-toe and
taking turns alternately.
Mini-Max Algorithm in Artificial Intelligence
• Mini-max algorithm is a recursive or backtracking algorithm which is used in
decision-making and game theory. It provides an optimal move for the player
assuming that opponent is also playing optimally.
• Min-Max algorithm is mostly used for game playing in AI. Such as Chess, Checkers,
tic-tac-toe, go, and various tow-players game. This Algorithm computes the
minimax decision for the current state.
• In this algorithm two players play the game, one is called MAX and other is called
MIN.
• Both the players fight it as the opponent player gets the minimum benefit while they
get the maximum benefit.
• Both Players of the game are opponent of each other, where MAX will select the
maximized value and MIN will select the minimized value.
• The minimax algorithm performs a depth-first search algorithm for the exploration
of the complete game tree.
• The minimax algorithm proceeds all the way down to the terminal node of the tree,
then backtrack the tree as the recursion.
Pseudo-code for MinMax Algorithm
function minimax(node, depth, maximizingPlayer)
if depth ==0 or node is a terminal node then
return static evaluation of node

if MaximizingPlayer then // for Maximizer Player

maxEva= -infinity
for each child of node do
eva= minimax(child, depth-1, false)
maxEva= max(maxEva,eva) //gives Maximum of the values
return maxEva

else // for Minimizer player

minEva= +infinity
for each child of node do
eva= minimax(child, depth-1, true)
minEva= min(minEva, eva) //gives minimum of the values
return minEva
Working of Min-Max Algorithm
• Initial call:
Minimax(node, 3, true)
• In two-player game example, there are two players one is called Maximizer and
other is called Minimizer.
• Maximizer will try to get the Maximum possible score, and Minimizer will try to
get the minimum possible score.
• This algorithm applies DFS, so in this game-tree, we have to go all the way
through the leaves to reach the terminal nodes.
• At the terminal node, the terminal values are given so we will compare those
value and backtrack the tree until the initial state occurs. Following are the
main steps involved in solving the two-player game tree:
Working of Min-Max Algorithm
• Step-1: In the first step, the
algorithm generates the entire
game-tree and apply the utility
function to get the utility values
for the terminal states. In the
below tree diagram, let's take A is
the initial state of the tree.
Suppose maximizer takes first turn
which has worst-case initial value
=- infinity, and minimizer will take
next turn which has worst-case
initial value = +infinity.
Working of Min-Max Algorithm
• Step 2: Now, first we find the
utilities value for the Maximizer,
its initial value is -∞, so we will
compare each value in terminal
state with initial value of
Maximizer and determines the
higher nodes values. It will find the
maximum among the all.
• For node D max(-1,- -∞) =>
max(-1,4)= 4
• For Node E max(2, -∞) =>
max(2, 6)= 6
• For Node F max(-3, -∞) =>
max(-3,-5) = -3
• For node G max(0, -∞) = max(0,
7) = 7
Working of Min-Max Algorithm
• Step 3: In the next step, it's a turn
for minimizer, so it will compare all
nodes value with +∞, and will find
the 3rd layer node values.

• For node B= min(4,6) = 4

• For node C= min (-3, 7) = -3
Working of Min-Max Algorithm
• Step 4: Now it's a turn for
Maximizer, and it will again
choose the maximum of all nodes
value and find the maximum value
for the root node. In this game
tree, there are only 4 layers, hence
we reach immediately to the root
node, but in real games, there will
be more than 4 layers.

• For node A max(4, -3)= 4

Properties of Mini-Max algorithm
• Complete- Min-Max algorithm is Complete. It will definitely find a solution (if
exist), in the finite search tree.

• Optimal- Min-Max algorithm is optimal if both opponents are playing

optimally.

• Time complexity- As it performs DFS for the game-tree, so the time

complexity of Min-Max algorithm is O(bm), where b is branching factor of the
game-tree, and m is the maximum depth of the tree.

• Space Complexity- Space complexity of Mini-max algorithm is also similar to

DFS which is O(bm).
Limitation of the minimax Algorithm
• The main drawback of the minimax algorithm is that it gets really slow for
complex games such as Chess, go, etc. This type of games has a huge
branching factor, and the player has lots of choices to decide.

• This limitation of the minimax algorithm can be improved from alpha-beta

pruning.
Alpha-Beta Pruning
• Alpha-beta pruning is a modified version of the minimax algorithm. It is an optimization
technique for the minimax algorithm.
• As we have seen in the minimax search algorithm that the number of game states it has
to examine are exponential in depth of the tree. Since we cannot eliminate the
exponent, but we can cut it to half. Hence there is a technique by which without
checking each node of the game tree we can compute the correct minimax decision,
and this technique is called pruning. This involves two threshold parameter Alpha and
beta for future expansion, so it is called alpha-beta pruning. It is also called as Alpha-Beta
Algorithm.
• Alpha-beta pruning can be applied at any depth of a tree, and sometimes it not only
prune the tree leaves but also entire sub-tree.
Alpha-Beta Pruning
• The two-parameter can be defined as:
• Alpha: The best (highest-value) choice we have found so far at any point along the
path of Maximizer. The initial value of alpha is -∞.
• Beta: The best (lowest-value) choice we have found so far at any point along the path
of Minimizer. The initial value of beta is +∞.

• The Alpha-beta pruning to a standard minimax algorithm returns the same

move as the standard algorithm does, but it removes all the nodes which are
not really affecting the final decision but making algorithm slow. Hence by
pruning these nodes, it makes the algorithm fast.
Alpha-Beta Pruning
• Condition for Alpha-beta pruning:
• The main condition which required for alpha-beta pruning is: α>=β

• Key points about alpha-beta pruning:

• The Max player will only update the value of alpha.
• The Min player will only update the value of beta.
• While backtracking the tree, the node values will be passed to upper nodes
instead of values of alpha and beta.
• We will only pass the alpha, beta values to the child nodes.
Pseudo-code for Alpha-beta Pruning
function minimax(node, depth, alpha, beta, maximizingPlayer)
if depth ==0 or node is a terminal node then
return static evaluation of node
if MaximizingPlayer then // for Maximizer Player
else // for Minimizer player
maxEva= -infinity
minEva= +infinity
for each child of node do for each child of node do
eva= minimax(child, depth-1, alpha, beta, False) eva= minimax(child, depth-1, alpha, beta,
true)
maxEva= max(maxEva, eva)
minEva= min(minEva, eva)
alpha= max(alpha, maxEva)
beta= min(beta, eva)
if beta<=alpha
if beta<=alpha
break
break
return maxEva
return minEva
Working of Alpha-Beta Pruning
• Step 1: At the first step the,
Max player will start first
move from node A where α= -
∞ and β= +∞, these value of
alpha and beta passed down
to node B where again α= -∞
and β= +∞, and Node B
passes the same value to its
child D.
Working of Alpha-Beta Pruning
• Step 2: At Node D, the value of α will be
calculated as its turn for Max. The value of α is
compared with firstly 2 and then 3, and the
max (2, 3) = 3 will be the value of α at node D
and node value will also 3.

• Step 3: Now algorithm backtrack to node B,

where the value of β will change as this is a
turn of Min, Now β= +∞, will compare with
the available subsequent nodes value, i.e. min
(∞, 3) = 3, hence at node B now α= -∞, and β=
3. In the next step, algorithm traverse the
next successor of Node B which is node E, and
the values of α= -∞, and β= 3 will also be
passed.
Working of Alpha-Beta Pruning
• Step 4: At node E, Max will take its

turn, and the value of alpha will

change. The current value of alpha
will be compared with 5, so max (-
∞, 5) = 5, hence at node E α= 5 and
β= 3, where α>=β, so the right
successor of E will be pruned, and
algorithm will not traverse it, and
the value at node E will be 5.
Working of Alpha-Beta Pruning
• Step 5: At next step, algorithm again backtrack the
tree, from node B to node A. At node A, the value
of alpha will be changed the maximum available
value is 3 as max (-∞, 3)= 3, and β= +∞, these two
values now passes to right successor of A which is
Node C.

At node C, α=3 and β= +∞, and the same values

will be passed on to node F.

• Step 6: At node F, again the value of α will be

compared with left child which is 0, and max(3,0)=
3, and then compared with right child which is 1,
and max(3,1)= 3 still α remains 3, but the node
value of F will become 1.
Working of Alpha-Beta Pruning
• Step 7: Node F returns the node

value 1 to node C, at C α= 3 and β=

+∞, here the value of beta will be
changed, it will compare with 1 so
min (∞, 1) = 1. Now at C, α=3 and β=
1, and again it satisfies the
condition α>=β, so the next child of
C which is G will be pruned, and the
algorithm will not compute the
entire sub-tree G.
Working of Alpha-Beta Pruning
• Step 8: C now returns the value of 1
to A here the best value for A is max
(3, 1) = 3. Following is the final game
tree which is the showing the nodes
which are computed and nodes
which has never computed. Hence
the optimal value for the maximizer
is 3 for this example.
Move Ordering in Alpha-Beta pruning
• The effectiveness of alpha-beta pruning is highly dependent on the order in which each node is
examined. Move order is an important aspect of alpha-beta pruning.

• It can be of two types:

• Worst ordering: In some cases, alpha-beta pruning algorithm does not prune any of the leaves of
the tree, and works exactly as minimax algorithm. In this case, it also consumes more time because
of alpha-beta factors, such a move of pruning is called worst ordering. In this case, the best move
occurs on the right side of the tree. The time complexity for such an order is O(bm).

• Ideal ordering: The ideal ordering for alpha-beta pruning occurs when lots of pruning happens in
the tree, and best moves occur at the left side of the tree. We apply DFS hence it first search left of
the tree and go deep twice as minimax algorithm in the same amount of time. Complexity in ideal
ordering is O(bm/2).
Rules to find good ordering
• Following are some rules to find good ordering in alpha-beta
pruning:
• Occur the best move from the shallowest node.
• Order the nodes in the tree such that the best nodes are checked first.
• Use domain knowledge while finding the best move. Ex: for Chess, try
order: captures first, then threats, then forward moves, backward moves.
• We can bookkeep the states, as there is a possibility that states may
repeat.