Quiescence search

Quiescence Search
The idea of quiescence is that the static evaluator should not be applied to positions whose values are unstable, such as those occurring in the middle of the piece trade.

Quiescence search is an algorithm typically used to evaluate minimax game trees in game-playing computer programs. It is a remedy for the horizon problem faced by AI engines for various games like chess and Go.
[edit] The horizon effect ...

program, the computer's thought process is sketched on screen as it plays." Created by Martin Wattenberg, with Marek Walczak, and as explained on the About page, it "uses only basic algorithms from the 50s (alpha-beta pruning and quiescence search)." ...

See also: Artificial intelligence, Alpha, Minimax, Evaluation function, AI