🎮 GUI-based Chess Engine

A fully-functional chess game built from scratch using Python and PyGame, featuring complete chess rule implementation, interactive GUI, and smooth animations.

📋 Table of Contents

• Features
• Demo
• Installation
• How to Play
• Technical Implementation
• Project Structure
• Controls
• Future Enhancements
• Contributing
• License

✨ Features

Core Chess Mechanics

• ♟️ Complete Rule Implementation: All standard chess rules including piece movements, captures, and turn-based gameplay
• 👑 Special Moves:
  • Pawn promotion (automatic queen promotion)
  • En passant captures
  • Castling (kingside and queenside)
• 🎯 Game State Detection: Real-time check, checkmate, and stalemate detection
• ✅ Move Validation: Prevents illegal moves and ensures king safety

Interactive GUI

• 🎨 Clean Visual Design: 512x512 pixel board with alternating white/gray squares
• 🖱️ Click-to-Move Interface: Intuitive point-and-click piece selection and movement
• 💡 Visual Feedback:
  • Blue highlight on selected piece
  • Yellow highlights showing all valid moves for the selected piece
• 🎬 Smooth Animations: Fluid piece movement transitions at 60 FPS
• 📝 Chess Notation: Displays algebraic notation for each move in console

Gameplay Features

• ⏮️ Undo Move: Press Z to undo the last move
• 🔄 Reset Game: Press R to start a new game
• 🏁 Game Over Screen: Clear victory/draw messages on game completion
• 📊 Move History: Complete move log tracking throughout the game

🎮 Demo

The game provides an interactive chess experience where players can:

• Practice chess strategies in a virtual environment
• Visualize and predict moves with highlighted valid squares
• Learn chess rules through real-time validation feedback
• Analyze gameplay with move history and undo functionality

🚀 Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x
• PyGame library

Setup Steps

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/s-cube-15/GUI-based-chess-engine.git
   cd GUI-based-chess-engine

2. Install dependencies

   pip install pygame

3. Run the game

   python ChessMain.py

🎯 How to Play

1. Starting the Game: Run ChessMain.py to launch the chess board
2. Making Moves:
   • Click on a piece to select it (blue highlight appears)
   • Valid move squares are highlighted in yellow
   • Click on a highlighted square to move the piece
   • Click the same piece again to deselect
3. Special Moves: The engine automatically handles pawn promotion, en passant, and castling when valid
4. Game End: The game detects and announces checkmate or stalemate

🔧 Technical Implementation

Architecture

The project follows object-oriented design principles with three main components:

1. GameState Class (ChessEngine.py)

• Manages the 8x8 board representation
• Tracks piece positions, turn order, and game status
• Implements move generation algorithms for all piece types
• Handles special move logic (castling rights, en passant)
• Detects check, checkmate, and stalemate conditions

2. Move Class (ChessEngine.py)

• Encapsulates move information (start/end positions)
• Converts between array indices and chess notation
• Identifies special move types (promotion, en passant, castling)
• Provides move comparison and unique move ID generation

3. GUI Module (ChessMain.py)

• Renders the game board and pieces using PyGame
• Handles user input (mouse clicks, keyboard commands)
• Implements move animations and visual highlights
• Manages game loop and display updates

Key Algorithms

• Move Generation: Piece-specific movement patterns with boundary checking
• Move Validation: Simulates moves to prevent king exposure to check
• Check Detection: Analyzes opponent attacks on king position
• Castling Logic: Validates empty squares and no-check path requirements

📁 Project Structure

GUI-based-chess-engine/
├── ChessEngine.py      # Core game logic and rules
├── ChessMain.py        # GUI and game loop
├── images/             # Chess piece images (PNG format)
│   ├── wp.png         # White Pawn
│   ├── wR.png         # White Rook
│   ├── wN.png         # White Knight
│   ├── wB.png         # White Bishop
│   ├── wQ.png         # White Queen
│   ├── wK.png         # White King
│   ├── bp.png         # Black Pawn
│   ├── bR.png         # Black Rook
│   ├── bN.png         # Black Knight
│   ├── bB.png         # Black Bishop
│   ├── bQ.png         # Black Queen
│   └── bK.png         # Black King
└── README.md          # Project documentation

⌨️ Controls

Key	Action
Mouse Click	Select piece / Make move
Z	Undo last move
R	Reset game (start new)

🚀 Future Enhancements

Potential improvements for future versions:

• AI opponent with minimax algorithm and alpha-beta pruning
• Difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, Hard)
• Move timer and clock
• Save/load game functionality
• Move history display on GUI
• Custom piece themes and board colors
• Sound effects for moves and captures
• PGN (Portable Game Notation) export
• Online multiplayer support
• Opening book integration

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📄 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

👨‍💻 Author

Sudhanshu Sabale

• GitHub: @s-cube-15
• LinkedIn: Sudhanshu Sabale
• Email: sudhanshussable2@gmail.com

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Chess piece images sourced from open chess resources
• Built as a learning project to understand game development and chess algorithms
• Inspired by the classic game of chess and Python's versatility

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