Chess engine in C# with CLI interface
A ground-up re-build of a former student project, this engine is built with a performance-first mindset using an approach that will support both human-human and human-computer games.
The CLI allows for a game to be played. There are two modes:
- Interactive (
ChessApp.exe play) - Replay (
ChessApp.exe replay)
Interactive mode allows for a 2-player game to be played based on user input through various commands.
Interactive mode is entered by running ChessApp.exe play. All moves use Standard Algebraic Notation (SAN).
A list of commands is as follows:
The 'move' command will move a piece based on the provided notation. Standard algebraic notation is supported. Entering a move following standard algebraic notation without specifying the move command will still be treated as a move.
Ex: move Nc3 or Qxh4
The 'undo' command will undo the previous move .
Ex: undo
The 'hint' command will highlight a list of possible moves for the piece on the given square.
Ex: hint e2
The 'exit' command exit the application. Before exiting, a prompt will be displayed to confirm the choice to exit.
The 'help' command will display a list of possible commands.
Replay mode allows a game to be replayed from a file saved on disk. The file is specified as a command file argument and must be a valid file saved in Portable Game Notation (PGN) format. An optional second argument can be specified to control the time delay between moves (in seconds). The default delay is 1 second.
Example:
ChessApp.exe replay ..\my-pgn-file.pgn
ChessApp.exe replay C:\temp\my-other pgn-file.pgn 2.5