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Minimax Properties

Complete, if tree is finite
Optimal, if play against optimal opponent (or opponent with same strategy)
Time complexity is $O(b^m)$
Space complexity is $O(bm)$ (depth-first exploration)
If we have 100 seconds to make a move and we can explore $10^4$ nodes/second, then we can consider $10^6$ nodes per move

Standard approach is

Apply a cutoff test (depth limit, quiescence)
Evaluate nodes at cutoff (evaluation function estimates desirability of position)