Step 1: Standard Minimax explores the whole game tree to choose a move. Alpha-Beta pruning is an optimization of Minimax.
Step 2: It keeps two bounds, alpha (best for the maximizer so far) and beta (best for the minimizer so far). When a branch cannot change the final decision, it is cut off and not explored.
Step 3: This cutting saves work, so the tree is searched faster. The final move chosen is the same as plain Minimax, so it does not give a better result. That rules out (C).
Step 4: It still evaluates terminal nodes where needed, so (D) is wrong. Option (A) overstates by claiming it beats any algorithm.
The real gain is efficiency from pruning useless branches.
Correct option: (B).