Genetic algorithms for mentor-assisted evaluation function optimization

Omid David-Tabibi, Moshe Koppel, Nathan S. Netanyahu

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate how genetic algorithms can be used to reverse engineer an evaluation function's parameters for computer chess. Our results show that using an appropriate mentor, we can evolve a program that is on par with top tournament-playing chess programs, outperforming a two-time World Computer Chess Champion. This performance gain is achieved by evolving a program with a smaller number of parameters in its evaluation function to mimic the behavior of a superior mentor which uses a more extensive evaluation function. In principle, our mentor-assisted approach could be used in a wide range of problems for which appropriate mentors are available.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGECCO'08
Subtitle of host publicationProceedings of the 10th Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation 2008
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages1469-1475
Number of pages7
ISBN (Print)9781605581309
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008
Event10th Annual Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, GECCO 2008 - Atlanta, GA, United States
Duration: 12 Jul 200816 Jul 2008

Publication series

NameGECCO'08: Proceedings of the 10th Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation 2008

Conference

Conference10th Annual Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, GECCO 2008
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAtlanta, GA
Period12/07/0816/07/08

Keywords

  • Computer chess
  • Fitness evaluation
  • Games
  • Genetic algorithms
  • Parameter tuning

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