capehill / chess

Chess game written in C and SDL

Chess

The game is written in C and based on pure SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) for the graphical user interface. It consists of the following features:

• 2 game modes: player vs. player and player vs. computer. The computer moves are chosen using the Minimax algorithm (which features alpha-beta pruning).
• 5 difficulty levels.
• View all valid moves for each piece, with indications of capture moves and threatened moves.
• Undo previous moves.
• Save and load games.

The Command-Line Interface

The game also features a command-line interface, as follows:

~# ./chess -c
 Chess
-------
Specify game settings or type 'start' to begin a game with the current settings:
> difficulty 1
Difficulty level is set to amateur
> print_settings
SETTINGS:
GAME_MODE: 1-player
DIFFICULTY: amateur
USER_COLOR: white
> start
Starting game...
8| R N B Q K B N R |
7| M M M M M M M M |
6| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
5| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
4| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
3| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
2| m m m m m m m m |
1| r n b q k b n r |
  -----------------
   A B C D E F G H
Enter your move (white player):
> move <2,E> to <3,E>
Computer: move pawn at <7,A> to <5,A>
8| R N B Q K B N R |
7| _ M M M M M M M |
6| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
5| M _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
4| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
3| _ _ _ _ m _ _ _ |
2| m m m m _ m m m |
1| r n b q k b n r |
  -----------------
   A B C D E F G H
Enter your move (white player):
> move <1,F> to <4,C>
Computer: move pawn at <5,A> to <4,A>
8| R N B Q K B N R |
7| _ M M M M M M M |
6| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
5| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
4| M _ b _ _ _ _ _ |
3| _ _ _ _ m _ _ _ |
2| m m m m _ m m m |
1| r n b q k _ n r |
  -----------------
   A B C D E F G H
Enter your move (white player):
> move <1,D> to <5,H>
Computer: move pawn at <4,A> to <3,A>
8| R N B Q K B N R |
7| _ M M M M M M M |
6| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
5| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ q |
4| _ _ b _ _ _ _ _ |
3| M _ _ _ m _ _ _ |
2| m m m m _ m m m |
1| r n b _ k _ n r |
  -----------------
   A B C D E F G H
Enter your move (white player):
> move <4,C> to <7,F>
Checkmate! white player wins the game

Usage

After compilation using make, run the graphical game with ./chess -g or the CLI with ./chess -c.