Chess Engine with AI opponent

Side project by Ferdinand

Version 1 released

Simple Chess engine with an AI oppent implemented in C++. The opponent uses the MinMax+Pruning algorithm for choosing the best move. Currently it can look up 4 steps in advance. In addition sounds effects are implemented.

Tested Environment

• Windows 11 with vscode
• x86_64-w64-mingw32

Requirements

• SDL2 (https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases)
• SDL2_Image (https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_image/releases)
• SDL2_ttf (https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_ttf/releases)
• SDL2_mixer (https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_mixer/releases)

Installation

1. Install all requirements simply follow this tutorial for each package (4x): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H08t6gD1Y1E&t=197s

2. Build the code

make

Usage

Run the executable

./main.exe

press r to reset the game

press z to undo a move

TODO

• implement castling
• implement en passant moves
• improve efficiency
• fix bugs

Known Bugs

• the search for the best AI moves does not consider the shortes path. A move which leads to checkmate in 5 steps has a similar score to a move that leads to checkmate in 1 step. This can lead to an endless game. Possible Fix: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59128279/how-can-i-make-minimax-alpha-beta-pruning-prioritize-shorter-paths
• Randomly spawning of a king (rarely happens)