Abstract In this paper, we present a method using AI techniques to solve a case of pure mathematics applications for finding narrow admissible tuples. The original problem is formulated into a combinatorial optimization problem. In particular, we show how to exploit the local search structure to formulate the problem landscape for dramatic reductions in search space and for non-trivial elimination in search barriers, and then to realize intelligent search strategies for effectively escaping from local minima. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is able to efficiently find best known solutions. This research sheds light on exploiting the local problem structure for an efficient search in combinatorial landscapes as an application of AI to a new problem domain.