chess-library is a multi-purpose library for chess in C++17.
It can be used for any type of chess program, be it a chess engine, a chess GUI, or a chess data anaylsis tool.
- Fast: This library is fast enough for pretty much any purpose in C++ and it is faster than most other chess libraries in C++.
- Documentation: Easy to browse documentation at https://disservin.github.io/chess-library
- Robust: Unit Tests & it has been tested on millions of chess positions, while developing the C++ part of Stockfish's Winrate Model.
- PGN Support: Parse basic PGN files.
- Namespace: Everything is in the
chess::namespace, so it won't pollute your namespace. - Compact Board Representation in 24bytes: The board state can be compressed into 24 bytes, using
PackedBoardandBoard::Compact::encode/Board::Compact::decode.
This is a single header library.
You only need to include chess.hpp header!
Aftewards you can access the chess logic over the chess:: namespace.
The 3 other big chess libraries that I know of in C++ are:
-
Pros:
- relatively fast, see PERFT Comparison
Cons:
- lacks documentation and utility functionality, also no support for Chess960.
- not very active anymore
-
Pros:
- Header and source file split, leading to faster compilation times.
- Position compression
Cons:
- Rather slow, see PERFT Comparison
- Lacks documentation
- No support for Chess960
-
Pros:
- Modern C++ (and relatively active)
- Header Only
Cons:
- No documentation
- Early Version (after 4 years)
- No support for Chess960 (I think)
- Stockfish Winrate Model https://github.com/official-stockfish/WDL_model
- CLI Tool for running chess engine matches https://github.com/Disservin/fast-chess
- GUI-based Chess Player as well as a Chess Engine https://github.com/Orbital-Web/Raphael
- UCI Chess Engine (~3.3k elo) https://github.com/rafid-dev/rice (old version)
- Texel tuner for HCE engines https://github.com/GediminasMasaitis/texel-tuner
Tested on Ryzen 9 5950X:
With movelist preallocation:
depth 7 time 8988 nodes 3195901860 nps 355534749 fen rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
depth 5 time 430 nodes 193690690 nps 449398352 fen r3k2r/p1ppqpb1/bn2pnp1/3PN3/1p2P3/2N2Q1p/PPPBBPPP/R3K2R w KQkq - 0 1
depth 7 time 661 nodes 178633661 nps 269839367 fen 8/2p5/3p4/KP5r/1R3p1k/8/4P1P1/8 w - - 0 1
depth 6 time 1683 nodes 706045033 nps 419266646 fen r3k2r/Pppp1ppp/1b3nbN/nP6/BBP1P3/q4N2/Pp1P2PP/R2Q1RK1 w kq - 0 1
depth 5 time 210 nodes 89941194 nps 426261582 fen rnbq1k1r/pp1Pbppp/2p5/8/2B5/8/PPP1NnPP/RNBQK2R w KQ - 1 8
depth 5 time 377 nodes 164075551 nps 434062304 fen r4rk1/1pp1qppp/p1np1n2/2b1p1B1/2B1P1b1/P1NP1N2/1PP1QPPP/R4RK1 w - - 0 1
depth 6 time 358 nodes 119060324 nps 331644356 fen rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w HAha - 0 1
depth 6 time 710 nodes 191762235 nps 269707784 fen 1rqbkrbn/1ppppp1p/1n6/p1N3p1/8/2P4P/PP1PPPP1/1RQBKRBN w FBfb - 0 9
depth 6 time 2434 nodes 924181432 nps 379540629 fen rbbqn1kr/pp2p1pp/6n1/2pp1p2/2P4P/P7/BP1PPPP1/R1BQNNKR w HAha - 0 9
depth 6 time 927 nodes 308553169 nps 332492639 fen rqbbknr1/1ppp2pp/p5n1/4pp2/P7/1PP5/1Q1PPPPP/R1BBKNRN w GAga - 0 9
depth 6 time 2165 nodes 872323796 nps 402734901 fen 4rrb1/1kp3b1/1p1p4/pP1Pn2p/5p2/1PR2P2/2P1NB1P/2KR1B2 w D - 0 21
depth 6 time 6382 nodes 2678022813 nps 419555508 fen 1rkr3b/1ppn3p/3pB1n1/6q1/R2P4/4N1P1/1P5P/2KRQ1B1 b Ddb - 0 14
This library might throw exceptions in some cases, for example when the input is invalid or things are not as expected.
To disable exceptions, define CHESS_NO_EXCEPTIONS before including the header.
Benchmark implementation for more information.
chess-library had no movelist preallocation, same as the other libraries.
chess-library:
depth 6 time 539 nodes 119060324 nps 220482081 fen rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
depth 5 time 538 nodes 193690690 nps 359351929 fen r3k2r/p1ppqpb1/bn2pnp1/3PN3/1p2P3/2N2Q1p/PPPBBPPP/R3K2R w KQkq - 0 1
depth 6 time 64 nodes 11030083 nps 169693584 fen 8/2p5/3p4/KP5r/1R3p1k/8/4P1P1/8 w - - 0 1
depth 5 time 53 nodes 15833292 nps 293209111 fen r3k2r/Pppp1ppp/1b3nbN/nP6/BBP1P3/q4N2/Pp1P2PP/R2Q1RK1 w kq - 0 1
depth 5 time 267 nodes 89941194 nps 335601470 fen rnbq1k1r/pp1Pbppp/2p5/8/2B5/8/PPP1NnPP/RNBQK2R w KQ - 1 8
depth 5 time 468 nodes 164075551 nps 349841260 fen r4rk1/1pp1qppp/p1np1n2/2b1p1B1/2B1P1b1/P1NP1N2/1PP1QPPP/R4RK1 w - - 0 11
Surge:
depth 6 time 713 nodes 119060324 nps 166751154 fen rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
depth 5 time 841 nodes 193690690 nps 230036448 fen r3k2r/p1ppqpb1/bn2pnp1/3PN3/1p2P3/2N2Q1p/PPPBBPPP/R3K2R w KQkq - 0 1
depth 6 time 75 nodes 11030083 nps 145132671 fen 8/2p5/3p4/KP5r/1R3p1k/8/4P1P1/8 w - - 0 1
depth 5 time 85 nodes 15833292 nps 184108046 fen r3k2r/Pppp1ppp/1b3nbN/nP6/BBP1P3/q4N2/Pp1P2PP/R2Q1RK1 w kq - 0 1
depth 5 time 419 nodes 89941194 nps 214145700 fen rnbq1k1r/pp1Pbppp/2p5/8/2B5/8/PPP1NnPP/RNBQK2R w KQ - 1 8
depth 5 time 770 nodes 164075551 nps 212808756 fen r4rk1/1pp1qppp/p1np1n2/2b1p1B1/2B1P1b1/P1NP1N2/1PP1QPPP/R4RK1 w - - 0 11
THC:
depth 6 time 3294 nodes 119060324 nps 36133633 fen rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
depth 5 time 5043 nodes 193690690 nps 38400216 fen r3k2r/p1ppqpb1/bn2pnp1/3PN3/1p2P3/2N2Q1p/PPPBBPPP/R3K2R w KQkq - 0 1
depth 6 time 404 nodes 11030083 nps 27234772 fen 8/2p5/3p4/KP5r/1R3p1k/8/4P1P1/8 w - - 0 1
depth 5 time 388 nodes 15833292 nps 40702550 fen r3k2r/Pppp1ppp/1b3nbN/nP6/BBP1P3/q4N2/Pp1P2PP/R2Q1RK1 w kq - 0 1
depth 5 time 2909 nodes 89941194 nps 30907626 fen rnbq1k1r/pp1Pbppp/2p5/8/2B5/8/PPP1NnPP/RNBQK2R w KQ - 1 8
depth 5 time 3403 nodes 164075551 nps 48200808 fen r4rk1/1pp1qppp/p1np1n2/2b1p1B1/2B1P1b1/P1NP1N2/1PP1QPPP/R4RK1 w - - 0 11
This project is using the meson build system. https://mesonbuild.com/
meson setup buildmeson compile -C buildmeson test -C buildDownload the Lichess March 2017 database and place it in the parent directory where you've checked out this repository.
You can decompress this with the following command: unzstd -d lichess_db_standard_rated_2017-03.pgn.zst
cd example
meson setup build
meson compile -C build
./build/example