64bit math (=chessboard) and bitwise operators (=next possible moves) is all You need. So simply. Brute Force will find the most best way usually. Of course, there is no universal algorithm for all positions. In real life the calculation is also limited in time, timeout will stop it. A good chess program means heavy code (passed,doubled pawns,etc). Small code can't be very strong. Opening and endgame databases just save processing time, some kind of preprocessed data. The device, I mean - the OS,threading poss.,environment,hardware define requirements. Programming language is important. Anyway, the development process is interesting.
