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COKO III is a chess player written entirely in Fortran. On the IBM 360-65, COKO III plays a minimal chess game at the rate of .2 sec cpu time per move, with a level close to lower chess club play. A selective tree searching procedure controlled by tactical chess logistics allows a deploy merit of multiple minimal game calculations to achieve some optimal move selection. The tree searching algorithms are the heart of COKO's effectiveness, yet they are conceptually simple. in addition, an interesting phenomenon called a tree searching, catastrophe has plagued COKO's entire development just as it troubles a human player. Standard exponential growth is curbed to a large extent by the definition and trimming of the Fischer set. A clear distinction between tree pruning and selective tree searching is also made. Representation of the chess environment is described along with a strategical preanalysis procedure that maps the Lasker regions. Specific chess algorithms are described which could be used as a command structure by anyone desiring to do some chess program experimentation. A comparison is made of some mysterious actions of human players and COKO III. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A parallel processing algorithm for shrinking binary patterns to obtain single isolated elements, one for each pattern, is presented. This procedure may be used for counting patterns on a matrix, and a hardware implementation of the algorithm using large scale integrated technology is envisioned. The principal features of this method are the very small window employed (two-by-two elements), the parallel nature of the process, and the possibility of shrinking any pattern, regardless of the complexity of its configuration. Problems regarding merging and disconnection of patterns during the process as well as the determination of the maximum number of steps necessary to obtain a single isolated element from a pattern, are reviewed and discussed. An analogy with a neural network description, in terms of McCulloch-Pitts "neurons" is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]