A heuristic is a practical rule or approximation used when exhaustive computation is impractical. In turn-based games, it helps a program decide which possibilities deserve deeper analysis and when to make a move. section 7.1
Chess search
A chess program searches a game tree, prunes less promising branches, and evaluates resulting positions. Heuristic rules estimate advantages for each side, convert them into weighted numerical scores, and combine them into an overall position evaluation. The program must balance spending time to find a stronger move against preserving time for later turns. section 7.1
Heuristics make large search problems manageable, but they rely on approximations rather than complete calculation. Their usefulness therefore depends on choosing sensible evaluation rules and managing limited computation without rushing into poor decisions. section 7.1
