Noida Institute of Engineering and Technology, Greater

Noida

Adversarial Search

Unit: 02

Introduction to Search

B Tech 3rd Sem

Alka Singh
CSE(AIML)
1
August 4, 2024
 Adversarial Search
• Adversarial search is a search, where we examine the
problem which arises when we try to plan ahead of the
world and other agents are planning against us.
• In previous topics, 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.

August 4, 2024 2
 Continue…
• 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.

August 4, 2024 3
 Types of game in AI

August 4, 2024 4
 Continue…
• 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.

August 4, 2024 5
 Continue…
• 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 .

August 4, 2024 6
 Continue…
• Note: In this topic, we will discuss deterministic games, fully
observable environment, zero-sum, and where each agent acts
alternatively.
Zero-Sum Game
• Zero-sum games are adversarial search which involves pure
competition.
• In Zero-sum game each agent's gain or loss of utility is exactly
balanced by the losses or gains of utility of another agent.
• One player of the game try to maximize one single value, while
other player tries to minimize it.
• Each move by one player in the game is called as ply.
• Chess and tic-tac-toe are examples of a Zero-sum game.

August 4, 2024 7
 Continue…
Zero-sum game: Embedded thinking
• The Zero-sum game involved embedded thinking in
which one agent or player is trying to figure out:
• What to do.
• How to decide the move
• Needs to think about his opponent as well
• The opponent also thinks what to do
• Each of the players is trying to find out the response of
his opponent to their actions. This requires embedded
thinking or backward reasoning to solve the game
problems in AI.
August 4, 2024 8
 Continue…
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.

August 4, 2024 9
 Continue…
• 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.

August 4, 2024 10
 Continue…
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.

August 4, 2024 11
 Continue…
•

August 4, 2024 12
 Continue…
Example Explanation:
• 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.

August 4, 2024 13
 Continue…
• 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.
• Hence adversarial Search for the minimax procedure works
as follows:
• It aims to find the optimal strategy for MAX to win the game.

August 4, 2024 14
 Continue…
• It follows the approach of Depth-first search.
• In the game tree, optimal leaf node could appear at any
depth of the tree.
• Propagate the minimax values up to the tree until the
terminal node discovered.
• In a given game tree, the optimal strategy can be
determined from the minimax value of each node, which
can be written as MINIMAX(n). MAX prefer to move to a
state of maximum value and MIN prefer to move to a
state of minimum value then:

August 4, 2024 Pushkal K Shukla RCS 702 AI Unit 02 15

 Game Theory
• Game theory is the logical and scientific study that
forms a model of the possible interactions between
two or more rational players.
• Here rational means that each player thinks that
others are just as rational and have the same level of
knowledge and understanding.
• In the game theory, players deal with the given set of
options in a multi-agent situation, it means the
choice of one player affects the choice of the other
or opponent players.

August 4, 2024 16
 Game Theory

• Game theory and AI are much related and

useful to each other. In AI, the game theory is
widely used to enable some of the key
capabilities required in the multi-agent
environment, in which multiple agents try to
interact with each other to achieve a goal.

August 4, 2024 17
 Mini-Max Algorithm in AI
• 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.
• Mini-Max algorithm uses recursion to search through
the game-tree.
• 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.
August 4, 2024 18
 Continue…
Working of Min-Max Algorithm
• The working of the minimax algorithm can be easily
described using an example. Below we have taken an
example of game-tree which is representing the two-
player game.
• In this 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.

August 4, 2024 19
 Continue…
• 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:

August 4, 2024 20
 Continue…
• 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.

August 4, 2024 21
 Continue…

August 4, 2024 22
 Continue…

August 4, 2024 23
 Continue…
• 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

August 4, 2024 24
 Continue…

August 4, 2024 25
 Continue…
• 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

August 4, 2024 26
 Continue…

That is the complete workflow of the minimax two player game

August 4, 2024 27
 Continue…
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).
August 4, 2024 28
 Continue…
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 which we have
discussed in the next topic

August 4, 2024 29
 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.

August 4, 2024 30
 Continue…
• 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.
• 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 +∞.

August 4, 2024 31
 Continue…
• 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.

August 4, 2024 32
 Continue…
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.

August 4, 2024 33
 Continue…
Working of Alpha-Beta Pruning:
• Let's take an example of two-player search tree to
understand the 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.

August 4, 2024 34
 Continue…

August 4, 2024 35
 Continue…
• 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.

August 4, 2024 36
 Continue…

August 4, 2024 37
 Continue…

• 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.

August 4, 2024 38
 Continue…
• 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.

August 4, 2024 39
 Continue…

August 4, 2024 40
 Continue…
• 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.

August 4, 2024 41
 Continue…

August 4, 2024 42
 Continue…

• 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.

August 4, 2024 43
 Continue…

August 4, 2024 44
 Continue…
• 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.

August 4, 2024 45
 Continue…

August 4, 2024 46
 Youtube & NPTEL Video Links and Online
Courses Details

• Youtube/other Video Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZpUcsB9TFc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Ilfpanz9A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LVR3mxEzmE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i-lZcbWkps

• NPTEL Courses Link

https://nptel.ac.in/courses/106105077/

August 4, 2024 47
 Daily Quiz

Which search is implemented with an empty first-in-first-out

queue?
a) Depth-first search
b) Breadth-first search
c) Bidirectional search
d) None of the mentioned
Answer: b
Explanation: Because of FIFO queue, it will assure that the nodes
that are visited first will be expanded first.

August 4, 2024 48
 Daily Quiz

A* algorithm is based on ___________

a) Breadth-First-Search
b) Depth-First –Search
c) Best-First-Search
d) Hill climbing
Answer: c
Explanation: Best-first-search is giving the idea of optimization and
quick choose of path, and all these characteristic lies in A*
algorithm.

August 4, 2024 49
 Daily Quiz

The search strategy the uses a problem specific knowledge is known

as ___________
a) Informed Search
b) Best First Search
c) Heuristic Search
d) All of the mentioned
Answer: d
.

August 4, 2024 50
 Daily Quiz

A complete, local search algorithm always finds goal if one exists,

an optimal algorithm always finds a global minimum/maximum.
a) True
b) False
Answer: a
Explanation: An algorithm is complete if it finds a solution if
exists and optimal if finds optimal goal (minimum or maximum).

August 4, 2024 51
 Daily Quiz

When will Hill-Climbing algorithm terminate?

a) Stopping criterion met
b) Global Min/Max is achieved
c) No neighbor has higher value
d) All of the mentioned
Answer: c
Explanation: When no neighbor is having higher value,
algorithm terminates fetching local min/max.

August 4, 2024 52
 Daily Quiz

To which depth does the alpha-beta pruning can be applied?

a) 10 states
b) 8 States
c) 6 States
d) Any depth
Answer: d
Explanation: Alpha–beta pruning can be applied to trees of any
depth and it is possible to prune entire subtree rather than leaves.

August 4, 2024 53
 Weekly Assignment
Q1: Demonstrate shortcomings of Hill Climbing Search and it’s variations.
CO2

Q2: Explore Heuristic functions and Effective Branching Factor.

CO2

Q3: List out benefits of Recursive Breadth First Search. CO2

Q4: Inspect and find use of branching factor in Heuristic function.

CO2

Q5: List out various searching methodologies. CO2

Q6: Inspect and find the complete and optimal algorithm among BFS, Greedy BFS
and A*. CO2

August 4, 2024 54
 MCQ s

Which search strategy is also called as blind search?

a) Uninformed search
b) Informed search
c) Simple reflex search
d) All of the mentioned
Answer: a
Explanation: In blind search, We can search the states without
having any additional information. So uninformed search method is
blind search.

August 4, 2024 55
 MCQ s

How many types are available in uninformed search method?

a) 3
b) 4
c) 5
d) 6
Answer: c
Explanation: The five types of uninformed search method are
Breadth-first, Uniform-cost, Depth-first, Depth-limited and
Bidirectional search.

August 4, 2024 56
 MCQ s
A heuristic is a way of trying ___________
a) To discover something or an idea embedded in a program
b) To search and measure how far a node in a search tree seems to be from
a goal
c) To compare two nodes in a search tree to see if one is better than another
d) All of the mentioned
Answer: d
Explanation: In a heuristic approach, we discover certain idea and use
heuristic functions to search for a goal and predicates to compare nodes.

August 4, 2024 57
 MCQ s

In many problems the path to goal is irrelevant, this class of problems can
be solved using ____________
a) Informed Search Techniques
b) Uninformed Search Techniques
c) Local Search Techniques
d) Informed & Uninformed Search Techniques

Answer: c

August 4, 2024 58
 MCQ s

Explanation: If the path to the goal does not matter, we might

consider a different class of algorithms, ones that do not
worry about paths at all. Local search algorithms operate
using a single current state (rather than multiple paths) and
generally move only to neighbors of that state.

August 4, 2024 59
 MCQ s

Uninformed search strategies are better than informed search

strategies.
a) True
b) False
Answer: a
Explanation: Informed search strategies uses some problem
specific knowledge, hence more efficient to finding goals.

August 4, 2024 60
 MCQ s

Though local search algorithms are not systematic, key

advantages would include __________
a) Less memory
b) More time
c) Finds a solution in large infinite space
d) Less memory & Finds a solution in large infinite space
Answer: d

August 4, 2024 61
 MCQ s

Explanation: Two advantages:

(1) they use very little memory-usually a constant amount;
and
(2) they can often find reasonable solutions in large or infinite
(continuous) state spaces for which systematic algorithms are
unsuitable.

August 4, 2024 62
 MCQ s

Which search is similar to minimax search?

a) Hill-climbing search
b) Depth-first search
c) Breadth-first search
d) All of the mentioned
Answer: b
Explanation: The minimax search is depth-first search, So at one
time we just have to consider the nodes along a single path in the
tree.

August 4, 2024 63
 Expected Questions for University Exam

1. List out various searching methodologies.

2. Inspect and find the complete and optimal algorithm among

BFS, Greedy BFS and A*.

3. Explain Alpha - Beta Pruning with example.

August 4, 2024 64
 Summary

After successfully completed this course student will

be able to:

Understand about assess the applicability, strengths,

and weaknesses of the basic knowledge
representation, problem solving, and learning
methods in solving particular engineering problems.

August 4, 2024 65
 References

• American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI),

Welcome to AI Topics, 2003, http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/ --
a Web-based library.
• George Luger,
Artificial Intelligence: Structures and Strategies for Complex P
roblem Solving, Fourth Edition
Addison-Wesley, 2002 -- a well-respected introduction to
artificial intelligence, as witnessed by its being in its fourth
edition.
• Peter Norvig, AI on the Web,
August 4, 2024 66
http://aima.cs.berkeley.edu/ai.html -- a list of over 800 links
August 4, 2024 67