Baier

Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is an online planning algorithm that combines the ideas of best-first tree search and Monte-Carlo evaluation. Since MCTS is based on sampling, it does not require a transition function in explicit form, but only a generative model of the domain. Because it grows a highly selective search tree guided by its samples, it can handle huge search spaces with large branching factors. By using Monte-Carlo playouts, MCTS can take long-term rewards into account even with distant horizons. Combined with multi-armed bandit algorithms to trade off exploration and exploitation, MCTS has been shown to guarantee asymptotic convergence to the optimal policy, while providing approximations when stopped at any time.