Huge performance decrease with ASYNC/AWAIT - node.js-addon

Question

I am writing a C++ addon with Node.js and I made an async function, I tried it with a callback and with a Promise. The callback took between 300ms and 1000ms to execute whereas the Promise took between 1800ms and 5000ms for the same work.
The addon is using the Minmax algorithm with the Markov Decision Process to decide a move to play on a game of connect four. The code is the following:
Callback:
socket.on('play', row => {
console.time('play');
play(socket, Game, row);
Game.minimax(AImove => {
play(socket, Game, AImove - 1);
console.timeEnd('play');
});
});
/*
* play: 1170.922ms
* play: 984.421ms
* play: 1324.559ms
* play: 1147.240ms
*/
ASYNC/AWAIT:
const minimax = Game => {
return new Promise(resolve => {
Game.minimax(AImove => {
resolve(AImove);
});
});
};
socket.on('play', async row => {
console.time('play');
play(socket, Game, row);
const AImove = await minimax(Game);
play(socket, Game, AImove - 1);
console.timeEnd('play');
});
/*
* play: 1838.339ms
* play: 3204.243ms
* play: 3245.432ms
* play: 4590.880ms
*/
I played the exact same sequence of moves, is writing ASYNC/AWAIT with a node addon a bad practice? Or did I do something wrong?

Answer 1

Typically when I see a Promise or an async function taking a long time to execute, it's because the function is not returning a value at the end. It will run through the end of the function without hitting a return, and just timeout. Also, nesting Promises is bad practice.