NOUGHTS & CROSSES AGAIN by Ron Humphries

Following on from issue 4 of QL Today, I thought I had
better have a go myself at an algorithm for this game to
allow a human to play against the QL, hence this entry.

I have to say that I'm not too happy with it; it's not so
much an algorithm as a lookup table. In time, I want to do a
proper alpha-beta pruning method as I still have a gut
feeling that it should result in a forced win for the second
player.

Playing this version I've submitted against itself sometimes
results in an exact repetition of a position (time and
place) which the program announces and offers a draw. If
this happens ten times, the program unilaterally declares
the game a draw anyway.

Ron Humphries, 16 Coniston Road, Sutton Coldfield, West
Midlands, England, B74 3LE
