QUIESCENCE

The idea of quiescence is that the static evaluator should not be applied to positions whose values are unstable, such as those occurring in the middle of the piece trade. In those positions, a small secondary search is conducted until the static evaluation becomes more stable. In games such as chess or checkers, this can be achieved by always exploring any capture moves one level deeper. This extra search is called quiescence search. Applying quiescence search to capture moves quickly will resolve the uncertainties in the position.