Chess By Me

Overview

Fully playable chess game built from scratch using the HTML canvas API, focusing on accurate rule enforcement, game state management, and real-time interaction without external libraries. Fully envisioned and written by me without outside help or inspiration.

Key Features

• Complete implementation of chess rules, with legal move validation, check / checkmate detection, castling, en passant, promotion
• Drag-and-drop piece interaction with visual feedback
• Legal move highlighting (valid vs invalid states)
• Real-time move notation log (standard algebraic notation)
• Local multiplayer (same device)

Technical Highlights

• Board representation using a 2D array with piece instances (Piece class)
• Move generation pipeline: each piece computes pseudo-legal moves, then moves are filtered via simulation to ensure king safety
• Check detection system handling complex constraints (pinned pieces, multiple checks)
• Canvas rendering where board state is mapped to pixel coordinates in real time

Challenges Solved

• Designing a performant move validation system without excessive recursion
• Handling edge cases like pinned pieces and multi-source checks
• Keeping rendering and game logic in sync in a real-time loop

What This Demonstrates

• Strong understanding of state-driven systems
• Ability to implement complex rule engines from scratch
• Problem-solving without reliance on frameworks or external libraries

My Role

Made fully by me without external libraries or code generation tools.