chess_ai

Project Overview

This is a passion project built because everyone thinks a chess AI is cool. The goal was to create a simple but functional chess AI you can play in your browser, with a focus on clarity and learnability of the code, rather than making the strongest chess engine possible. The project is a work in progress and open to improvements!

How It Works

• Frontend: The main interface is a web page (index.html) with a chessboard (rendered on a <canvas>) and a sidebar that shows the AI's thought process and the game history.
• Chess Logic: All chess logic (legal move generation, move execution, AI move selection) is implemented in JavaScript, directly in the HTML file.
• AI: The AI uses a basic approach, sometimes picking a random legal move, and sometimes using a simple minimax search with evaluation heuristics and an opening book.
• Visuals: Chess pieces are rendered using images, loaded dynamically via JavaScript.
• History: The sidebar tracks all moves and displays how the AI evaluated positions.

File Breakdown

index.html

• Purpose: Main entry point and the only file you need to open to play. Contains all the JavaScript for the UI, chess logic, and AI.
• Key Functions:
  • Board rendering and user interaction.
  • Move history and AI thought display.
  • Functions for generating legal moves, executing moves, and handling special rules (promotion, castling, en passant).
  • AI move logic: integrates a basic opening book, random moves, and a simple minimax search.
• What could be improved:
  • Split logic into multiple JS modules/files for maintainability.
  • Use a modern framework (React, Vue) to manage UI for better scalability.
  • Add support for more advanced chess rules (threefold repetition, fifty-move rule).
  • Improve the AI's evaluation and search depth for stronger play.
  • Add tests for core chess logic.

(old)main.js

• Purpose: Previous standalone JavaScript implementation of the chess logic and AI, for experimentation or reference.
• Key Functions:
  • Board representation and basic move generation.
  • Simple AI selecting random legal moves.
  • Console-based interaction and debug functions like printBoard().
• What could be improved:
  • Remove or archive if no longer needed to avoid confusion.
  • Refactor for clarity and modularity if planning future CLI or Node.js support.

previousVersionWithJSONData.txt

• Purpose: Archive of an earlier version, including the HTML, CSS, and a JS block with an opening book in JSON format.
• Key Contents:
  • Example of how an opening book can be represented in JSON for the AI to use.
  • Historical reference for UI and logic structure.
• What could be improved:
  • Move the JSON opening book to a dedicated file for easy updating and reuse.
  • Consider deleting or archiving outside the main repo if it's just for personal reference.

Notes & Future Improvements

• Why this project?
  This was built for fun and learning—because writing a chess AI is an iconic programming challenge, and it's a cool way to explore algorithms, UI, and game logic all in one project.
• Potential next steps:
  • Refactor codebase to separate UI, game logic, and AI into modules.
  • Add a difficulty slider to tune AI strength.
  • Support for multiplayer or online play.
  • Animate moves and add sound effects.
  • Make the UI mobile-friendly.
  • Add a PGN export for completed games.

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Feel free to fork, play, and contribute! Every programmer should write a chess AI at least once—it's a rite of passage!