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USER-MANUAL.md

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User Manual for Chess App

The Chess App allows to play the standard Chess board game. It implements all standard chess rules as defined by FIDE Laws of Chess taking effect from 1 January 2018 (see also Wikipedia's Rules of chess) (except fifty-move rule, insufficient material rule, threefold repetition rule).

The app offers a simple responsive GUI with drag-and-drop support.

Installation

The Chess App is a platform independent desktop application. It supports macOS, Linux, Windows.

The app is distributed as a single JAR with no dependencies. However, a JRE 11+ is needed for running it.

Note: In the future, we might ship a platform specific executable with a bundled JRE.

Game modes

The app offers several game modes:

  1. local two-player game, human vs human
    • In this mode, two players can play on the same computer taking turns.
  2. human vs computer (random legal moves generator)
    • In this mode, a player can play against a random legal moves generator.
  3. (not implemented yet) human vs computer against an arbitrary chess engine (via UCI)

Features

  • Complete and correct implementation of all Chess rules

  • Intuitive chessboard

    • Two possibilities for moving pieces on the board:
      1. Drag-And-Drop
      2. Selecting a piece to move with a click and then selecting a target square with another click.
    • (not implemented yet) The chessboard can be rotated (by 180 degrees) at any time.

  • Moves log

    • All moves all logged. In mode 1, also undoing of the last n moves is supported.
    • Click on the move, one can view the board state after that move (which is also highlighted).

  • Saving and loading of the game state

    • The game state can be loaded or saved to a file at any point.
    • The app supports standard PGN format.

  • Game editor

    • Chess pieces can be manually placed on the board before starting the game (using FEN).
    • Any possible (even legally impossible) placement is allowed (e.g. more pieces).
    • The currently running game can be stopped, edited and then restarted with the changed state.

  • Chess clock

    • There is an option to use chess clock during the game.
    • The amount of time is configurable.

Using the app

Upon the app startup, a New Game Dialog is shown.

App menu

The app has one global app menu. Its position depends on the platform (e.g. on macOS standard system top-screen menu is used).

The menu offers the following options (corresponding keyboard shortcuts are in parentheses):

  • File
    • New Game... (Ctrl-N / Cmd-M)
    • Open... (Ctrl-O / Cmd-O)
    • Save (Ctrl-S / Cmd-S)
    • Save As... (Ctrl-Shift-S / Cmd-Shift-S)
  • Edit
    • Undo Move (Ctrl-Z / Cmd-Z)

Game screen

When a game is started (either via New Game... or Open...), the game screen with the chessboard moves log is shown.

An example of moving a piece: A chessboard with a piece that is being moved

An example of browsing a game moves history: A chessboard with a hightlighted move

Option: Help > Preferences

The Preferences dialog is shown. It allows to modify the following global options that affect app behavior:

  • Highlight Last Move (on/off)
  • Play Sounds (on/off)
  • Show Legal Moves (on/off)

Option: File > New Game...

New game can be created from the app menu using the option File > New Game....

Before a new game is created, user is presented with the New Game Dialog. The New Game Dialog allow to choose the game mode and other relevant options (such as custom initial pieces placement, chess clock config, UCI, ...).

Option: File > Open...

The user is presented with a standard system file dialog to choose a game file to open. Only files with a .pgn extension are supported.

Option: File > Save

The game state is saved to the game file that is associated with it. If no game file that is associated with the game, then the option behaves as Save As... and the chosen game file is then associated with the game.

Option: File > Save As...

The user is presented with a standard system file dialog to choose where to save the game.

Option: Edit > Undo Move

Only available in game mode 1 and 2. Undoes the latest move in the moves log. Can be used repeatedly as long as there are moves to undo in the moves log.