README

Cheesy Chess
============

I (penduin) decided that I want to learn chess.  I suck at thinking ahead and
want to build up those brain-muscles.  To teach is to learn twice, so I'm
re-inventing (poorly) the ubiquitous wheel that is computer chess.  For me,
it's a learning exercise.  For others, who knows.

One hurdle I faced was that I was so useless in the beginning that even the
most lousy engines I could find would still usually beat me.  Once I got to
the point where I could beat PreChess reliably, I became annoyed that it will
castle out of check, so I decided to build my own dumb opponent.  :^)


Working Features
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- human play
- move validation (all moves except castling, en passant)
- check detection


Planned Features
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- checkmate detection
- castling, en passant
- proper log notation
+ cpu play
  - super-stupid "shmoe" algorithm: play moves at random
  - less-stupid "cheese" algorithm: play well enough to defeat PreChess :^)
  - still-less-stupid "ork" algorithm: play well enough to defeat me :^S


Additional Ideas
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I would like to experiment with new variations of chess.  One which I suspect
might be fun would let the king be captured like any other piece, at which
point a surviving piece of the player's choice would become king.

It could also be interesting to allow capturing one's own pieces, or to let
pawns retreat.