PROJECT MEGACHESSATRON

Created by students of CSE NITH 3rd year.

Project Structure

This is a simple chess engine written in C. The code uses the Minimax algorithm to evaluate the best move in a given position. The state of the game is stored in structs in C.

File structure:

• common.h -- contains all definitions (game state, functions etc). Included by all files.

• board.c -- contains code for managing structs having board position, printing board, etc etc

• moves.c -- contains code for finding possible moves etc

• evaluate.c -- contains evaluation function which calculates chances of winning/losing

• main.c -- contains the user interface, input/output etc.

• bestmove.c -- contains commands to find best move according to minimax algorithm.

• loops.c -- contains helper functions for bestmove

• Makefile -- config file for automatic building/compiling.

How to Compile and Run the code

This project is designed to be compiled on linux using gcc. To compile this code, first download the code and extract it or clone it with git (using git clone <url>). Then move to the directory having the code (using cd <path>). Then to compile it type the command make. If gcc is installed on your system and everything works properly, the code should compile and an executable file called MegaChessatron will be created in that folder (check it with ls). To run it, simply type ./MegaChessatron.

On windows you can either try to import the project into DevC++ and set the custom Makefile using instructions given here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13544684/running-a-project-in-dev-c or you may use either the git shell or cygwin to get a linux shell in windows.

How to run this program in a GUI (Xboard/Winboard protocol)

You can install Arena Chess Program which is a GUI for various chess engines. Compile the code with "make xboard" and then you will get an executable file "MegaChessatron". Open Arena and go into "load engine" or install engine option and choose the executable file and set protocol to XBoard or Winboard v1. Then use the engine GUI to either play with the program yourself or arrange an engine-vs-engine match.

How to contribute to the code

In order to contribute to the code, you have to first fork this repository on Github. Then clone the repository from your own account (install git and run git clone <url>). Then create a new branch in git, make changes to the code and commit your changes after testing them. Once a new feature has been added or a bug has been removed, merge it with the master branch and send a pull request to the original repository.