C++ Chess Implementation

This is a minimal chess game implemented in C++ whch reads a chessboard configuration as a stringstream.

The chess game is implemented in an object oriented manner, in which the different chess pieces all inherit from a base ChessPiece class. The chess board is represented as a 2D array that holds the chess piece objects, which makes use of a custom Matrix class.

ChessMain.cpp includes an implementation of Losing Chess with two AIs that each adopt a different strategy. Its executable (i.e. chess) contains 3 experiments to test how these two strategies compare in a game of Losing Chess.

• The first AI is a random thinker. If there are no caputirng moves, it will perform a random non-capturing move. If there are multiple capturing move, the AI will choose a capturing move at random. On a pawn promotion, the AI will select a random piece.

• The second AI tries to think one step ahead, but defaults to random. If no capturing moves are possible, it checks if any non-capturing move will force the opponent to capture on of its pieces. If so, it will make this move; if not, it will make a random move. If the AI can choose between multiple capturing moves, it checks if any of them will force a capturing move for the opponent. If so, it will make this move; if not, it defaults to making a random move. If there is a pawn promotion, it tries to pick a piece that cannot capture during its next move. If this is not possible, it will select a random piece.

The makefile can be evoked in multiple ways. Note that tests are written using CxxTest, and that the makefile relies on a test runner. After intalling CxxTest with $ apt install cxxtest, the runner can be created with $ cxxtestgen.pl --error-printer -o runner.cpp cxxtest.cpp.

• $ make chess creates the chess executable
• $ make all runs all tests