GNUChess Frontend

C++ chessboard renderer with SDL2, ASCII, and NCurses on the top of GNUChess UCI server protocol.

Features

• [x] SDL2 Mode: Graphical chessboard with smooth rendering (default)
• [x] GNUChess UCI: protocol integration
• [x] Bitboard validations: improvement using bit arrays of 64 bits
• [x] Picocalc Luckfox Lyra: Optimized for this mod and board
• [x] FEN notation support: Basic game state loader via CLI argument
• [x] Fast game states: Save and load bookmarks with small preview
• [ ] NCurses Mode: Terminal UI with keyboard navigation (in progress)
• [ ] Cross-platform: Works on Linux, Windows, and macOS
• [ ] ASCII Mode: Terminal interface with Unicode pieces (inprogress)

Requirements

Build Dependencies

• GNUChess
• CMake (>= 3.10)
• C++11 compatible compiler
• SDL2 development libraries (ttf and image dev libraries)
• Yaml cpp library
• NCurses development libraries (optional, for interactive terminal mode)

Installation

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

# Install development libraries
sudo apt update
sudo apt install gnuchess cmake build-essential libsdl2-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev libsdl2-image-dev libncurses-dev libyaml-cpp-dev

# Build the project
./build.sh

# Test local execution:
./chess

# Install
cd build && sudo make install

Picocalc (Luckfox Lyra Linux)

You need first change your original Picocalc RP2040 board, with a LuckFox Lyra board, put a clean SD and follow the next steps:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/hpsaturn/picocalc-luckfox-lyra.git
cd picocalc-luckfox-lyra
./setup.sh
./build.sh all
./build.sh buildroot-make:gnuchess
./build.sh buildroot-make:chessboard
./flash.sh

For details please visit the follow links:

Easy Linux build for LuckFox Lyra using Docker
Luckfox Lyra on Picocalc

Precompiled binaries (Linux)

I precompiled some versions regulary in releases

Usage

This version is optimized for Picocalc board using Luckfox Lyra. For that it has the next key bindings:

| Key | Action | |:-------:|-------| | Arrows | Piece and setting selections | | SPACE | Select piece or setting | | ENTER | Move selected piece | | ESC | Deselect piece or window exit | | F1| Show keyboard bindings | | F2| Save game state | | F3| Load last game state saved | | F4| Enter to game states window | | BACKSPACE | Delete game state (states window) | | F5| About and credits | | S| Enter to settings section | | I| Toggle to show game info | | Q| Exit the game. (without state save for now) | | R| Restart the game. (without ask before for now) | | H| Help - Keyboard bindings |

CLI

Also via command line is possible load a FEN state like this:

chess --fen "r3kb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/8/1q4P1/3b1P2/PP1N3P/R1BQK2R b - - 0 1"

For more about FEN notation and details, please enter here

Ncurses/Chars Board Piece Notation

| Piece | ASCII | NCurses | Description | |-------|-------|---------|-------------| | ♔ ♚ | K k | K k | King | | ♕ ♛ | Q q | Q q | Queen | | ♗ ♝ | B b | B b | Bishop | | ♘ ♞ | N n | N n | Knight | | ♖ ♜ | R r | R r | Rook | | ♙ ♟ | P p | P p | Pawn |

Note: Uppercase letters represent black pieces, lowercase represent white pieces.

TODO

• [x] Framebuffer support for Luckfox Lyra basic Linux buildroot image
• [x] Adapter class for join with GNU-Chess using UCI protocol
• [x] Picocalc keyboard issues (fixed)
• [x] Dead pieces count in each side (Game info window)
• [x] Basic settings modal window
• [x] Castelling full validations
• [x] Ilegal check moves validations (engine crashes)
• [x] isInCheck() validations
• [x] Help info modal window
• [x] Game info modal window (in porgress)
• [x] Points from the user (positive/negative)
• [x] Basic Timers
• [x] Buildroot config files for Luckfox Lyra tests
• [ ] Improve easy mode (seems that is not working)
• [ ] FEN casteling support
• [ ] Flip board
• [ ] Sound support
• [ ] Sprite pieces improvement

<a href="https://youtu.be/ltv3fyuKk2g?si=Ese5JhjE1rsCQBCR" target="_blank"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hpsaturn/chessboard/refs/heads/master/screenshots/youtube_preview.jpg" align="center" style="margin: 2px" ></a>

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Submit a pull request

Credits

• Special thanks to my son, M.V for its continuous critics and beta tests
• Thanks to @lunokjod for his MongoIA assistant
• Thanks to Chess SDL project for its CC by SA image assets.

License

This project is GPLv3. Some assets they are licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. See assets directory for details.