♟️ Console Chess

A console-based two-player Chess game written in C++ as a Programming Fundamentals (Spring 2023) course project. The game runs entirely in the terminal and implements core chess piece movement rules on a full 8×8 board.

Authors: Areeba Riaz (i221244) Course: Programming Fundamentals — Spring 2023

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Features

• Full 8×8 chess board rendered in the console
• Two-player alternating turn system
• 6 piece types with correct movement rules:
  • ♔ King — moves one square in any direction
  • ♕ Queen — moves any number of squares diagonally or straight
  • ♗ Bishop — moves any number of squares diagonally
  • ♖ Rook — moves any number of squares in a straight line
  • ♘ Knight — moves in an L-shape (2+1 squares)
  • ♙ Pawn — moves forward 1 (or 2 from start), captures diagonally
• Two game modes: Explore Moves (single-player) and Play Chess (2-player)
• Valid move highlighting — shows all possible destinations before you choose
• Proper piece capture with live score tracking
• Checkmate detection — game ends when the King is captured
• Resign option — any player can resign on their turn
• Input validation (handles non-integer and out-of-bounds input)

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Concepts Used

This project was built using Programming Fundamentals concepts only:

• 2D Arrays — char board[8][8] for the chess board
• Pointers — board passed as char (*b)[8] to all functions; Position* used to return piece locations
• Structs — Position { int row; int col; } for clean position handling
• Functions — fully modular; each piece has its own move + possibilities function
• Loops — for/while for board scanning, sliding pieces, input retry
• Conditionals — if/else, switch for piece selection and game flow
• Multi-file organization — globals.h, board, pieces, game, main
• No OOP — no classes, no templates, no STL containers

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How to Play

Compile

cd src
g++ main.cpp board.cpp pieces.cpp game.cpp -o chess

Run

./chess

Board Legend

Symbol	Piece	Player
K	King	White (Player 1)
Q	Queen	White
B	Bishop	White
R	Rook	White
N	Knight	White
k	King	Black (Player 2)
q	Queen	Black
b	Bishop	Black
r	Rook	Black
n	Knight	Black
x	Valid move	—
.	Empty square	—

Controls

1. Enter player names when prompted
2. On your turn, choose a piece by number (1–6)
3. If you have two of the same piece (e.g. two Rooks), choose Left or Right
4. The board displays your valid moves marked with x
5. Enter the row and column of your destination

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Project Structure

📦 Chess-Game/
 ┣ 📂 src/                   ← Source code
 ┃  ┣ 📄 main.cpp        ← Entry point — defines globals, calls start()
 ┃  ┣ 📄 globals.h       ← Shared constants, Position struct, extern vars
 ┃  ┣ 📄 board.h/.cpp    ← Board display, initialization, input validation
 ┃  ┣ 📄 pieces.h/.cpp   ← All 6 pieces: movement + possibilities (pointers)
 ┃  ┗ 📄 game.h/.cpp     ← Game loop, menus, turn logic, checkmate, resign
 ┣ 📂 docs/                  ← Project documentation
 ┃  ┗ 📄 Final Project 2023.pdf
 ┣ 📄 .gitignore
 ┗ 📄 README.md

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⚠️ Known Limitations

• No "check" warning when King is threatened (only detects when King is actually captured)
• Special moves not implemented: castling, en passant, pawn promotion
• No AI opponent — two human players only

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Developed for Programming Fundamentals (CL-1002), FAST-NUCES Islamabad — Project Chess Game