mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Reasoning, Memorization, and Fine-Tuning Language Models for Non-Cooperative Games

arXiv 2410.14890 ↗First posted 18 Oct 2024cs.AIcited by 3

On the map: LLM reasoning → Reasoning for agents, planning and code

Abstract (arXiv)

We develop a method that integrates the tree of thoughts and multi-agent framework to enhance the capability of pre-trained language models in solving complex, unfamiliar games. The method decomposes game-solving into four incremental tasks -- game summarization, area selection, action extraction, and action validation -- each assigned to a specific language-model agent. By constructing a tree of thoughts, the method simulates reasoning paths and allows agents to collaboratively distill game representations and tactics, mitigating the limitations of language models in reasoning and long-term memorization. Additionally, an automated fine-tuning process further optimizes the agents' performance by ranking query-response pairs based on game outcomes, e.g., winning or losing. We apply the method to a non-cooperative game and demonstrate a 65 percent winning rate against benchmark algorithms, with an additional 10 percent improvement after fine-tuning. In contrast to existing deep learning algorithms for game solving that require millions of training samples, the proposed method consumes approximately 1000 training samples, highlighting its efficiency and scalability.

Key facts. Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Reasoning for agents, planning and code, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 15 of its 27 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 18 Oct 2024.

Builds on

15 of 27 references.

Closest ancestors · 3

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024Smurfs: Multi-Agent System using Context-Efficient DFSDT for Tool Planning9 May
  2. 2024GTBench: Uncovering the Strategic Reasoning Limitations of LLMs via Game-Theoretic Evaluations19 Feb
  3. 2023Large Language Models on the Chessboard: A Study on ChatGPT's Formal Language Comprehension and Complex Reasoning Skills29 Aug

Other references · 12

  1. 2022Large Language Models are Zero-Shot Reasonerscited by 4,374
  2. 2023Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Modelscited by 3,211
  3. 2019Language Models as Knowledge Bases?cited by 1,936
  4. 2022Language Models as Zero-Shot Planners: Extracting Actionable Knowledge for Embodied Agentscited by 1,035
  5. 2019Commonsense Knowledge Mining from Pretrained Modelscited by 189
  6. 2023Emergent and Predictable Memorization in Large Language Modelscited by 148
  7. 2021Acquisition of Chess Knowledge in AlphaZerocited by 123
  8. 2024A Survey on Large Language Model-Based Game Agentscited by 112
  9. 2023ChessGPT: Bridging Policy Learning and Language Modelingcited by 75
  10. 2021Chess as a Testbed for Language Model State Trackingcited by 72
  11. 2023An Evaluation on Large Language Model Outputs: Discourse and Memorizationcited by 20
  12. 2022Automaton-Based Representations of Task Knowledge from Generative Language Modelscited by 12

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 2; 2026: 1.

3 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2024GameBench: Evaluating Strategic Reasoning Abilities of LLM Agents
  2. 2026Exploring Collaboration between a language and a non-language agent
  3. 2023Strategic Reasoning with Language Models
  4. 2024Large Language Models as Agents in Two-Player Games
  5. 2025Game Reasoning Arena: A Framework and Benchmark for Assessing Reasoning Capabilities of Large Language Models via Game Play
  6. 2026MINDGAMES: A Live Arena for Evaluating Social and Strategic Reasoning in Multi-Agent LLMs
  7. 2024Evaluating and Enhancing LLMs Agent based on Theory of Mind in Guandan: A Multi-Player Cooperative Game under Imperfect Information
  8. 2025Grounding Natural Language for Multi-agent Decision-Making with Multi-agentic LLMs