SDL Chess

A chess game implemented in C++ using SDL 2.0 with a chess engine and PGN testing framework. Chess rules obeyed following the FIDE Laws of Chess article: https://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/LawsOfChess.pdf

How to Run

Please run the following in order:

• ./setup.sh
• cmake .
• make chess.out (or make tester.out)
• ./chess.out(or ./tester.out)

Info

Features

• Full chess game with all standard rules (castling, en passant, promotion)
• SDL2 graphics with piece sprites and interactive board
• Press M during gameplay to view game notation
• PGN parser that validates the engine against grandmaster games
• Move validation system

Tested against thousands of grandmaster games including:

• Complex endgames
• Smothered mate scenarios
• Games with unusual moves (underpromotions, 260+ move games, checkmating with en passant)
• Edge cases and rare positions

Project Structure

• main.cpp Main game executable
• tester.cpp PGN parser and engine validation tool
• sources/ Chess engine implementation
• headers/ Header files for pieces and game logic
• resources/ Game assets (sprites, fonts, textures)
• pgn_games/ PGN files for testing

Prerequisites

• SDL2 development libraries
• SDL2_image development libraries
• g++ compiler

Technical Details

• Object-oriented design with separate classes for each piece type
• Move validation system
• Support for all chess rules including special moves
• Memory-safe C++ implementation
• Cross-platform through SDL2