Solving Connect Four: A-B Pruning and Monte-Carlo Tree Search

This lecture presents a project by Gouraud Julien and Ruzza Riccardo from the sycamore lab, focusing on applying game theory to solve the two-player game Connect Four. Starting with the minimax algorithm, they optimize it using alpha-beta pruning and compare it with the Monte-Carlo tree search algorithm. The lecture discusses the motivation behind the project, the principles of alpha-beta pruning, the comparison between minimax and pruning in terms of running time, the principle of Monte Carlo, and the differences between Monte Carlo and alpha-beta approaches. Special thanks are given to Anna Maddux, Giulio Salizzoni, and Professor Maryam Kamgarpour for their support.