ChessIT

This project aims to implement a simple chess engine that can be integrated into lichess. In order for it to run efficiently, I've chosen C++ as my development language.

Minimum Viable Product

Produces a fully functional chess engine that can communicate via UCI protocol and play complete games on the platform Lichess.

• Legal move generation for all chess pieces.
  • Proper check detection
  • Bitboard based board representation
  • Full support for promotion, castling, en passant, and piece movements
• Make and unmake moves.
• Basic search (in progres...)
  • Implement minimax tree with alpha-beta pruning
  • Fixed search depth (4 or 5)
• Evaluation function
  • Material based evaluation
  • Standard piece value (eg. pawns == 100)
• UCI Protocol Support
  • Correct handling of uci, isready, go, stop, quit
  • Outputs valid bestmove
  • Compatible with UCI GUIs and Lichess bot integration

File Structure

├── /.venv
├── /build
├── /docs
├── /include
├── /src
├── /tests
├── .dockerignore
├── .env
├── .env.example
├── .gitignore
├── client.py
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── docker-compose.yml
├── docker-compose.prod.yml
├── Makefile
├── README.md
└── requirements.txt

Getting started

Installation

Clone repository:

git clone git@github.com:gradimbuyi/ChessIT.git

Environment Variables

Create a .env file using the provided example:

.env.example

Running with Docker

Build and start all services:

docker compose up --build

Stopping the application:

docker compose down -v