⚡ StrikeChess 1.0

📖 What's this?

StrikeChess is a feature-rich chess application for playing against engines and analyzing positions. With a sleek, customizable interface, comprehensive time controls, and powerful analysis tools, StrikeChess provides everything you need for studying and playing chess.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

Python 3.14 or newer

Installation

pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py

🍎 macOS users: Use pip3 and python3 instead

📖 Detailed installation instructions | 📦 Creating a standalone executable

✨ Features

♟️ Core Gameplay

Interface - Intuitive drag-and-drop with smooth animations, legal move indicators, coordinate labels Game Modes - Human vs Engine, Human vs Human, play as either color Board Controls - Flip board (Ctrl+F), automatic orientation, last move arrows, check highlighting

🤖 Engine Features

Default Engine - Stockfish 17.1 included for all platforms Custom Engines - Load any UCI-compatible engine Strength Control - Adjustable via ponder mode, automatic move timing based on clock Force Move - Make the engine play immediately

🔬 Analysis Tools

Real-time Analysis - Position evaluation with animated bar (F3/F4) Visual Indicators - Best move arrows, evaluation display, mate distance Opening Recognition - Extensive opening database with name display Position Setup - FEN editor with paste and validation support

⏱️ Time Controls

Seven preset time controls with four increment options each:

Time Control	Increment Options
1 minute	0, 6, 12, or 30 seconds
3 minutes	0, 6, 12, or 30 seconds
5 minutes	0, 6, 12, or 30 seconds
10 minutes	0, 6, 12, or 30 seconds
20 minutes	0, 6, 12, or 30 seconds
30 minutes	0, 6, 12, or 30 seconds
1 hour	0, 6, 12, or 30 seconds
2 hours	0, 6, 12, or 30 seconds

Features - Digital countdown clocks, automatic increment, flag detection

💾 Game Management

Move History - Complete move table with navigation Game Review - Jump to any position, scroll through moves PGN Support - Save and load games with proper headers and metadata Position Editor - Set up custom positions via FEN

🎨 Themes

Choose from 8 carefully designed themes (4 dark, 4 light):

Dark Themes

Theme	Shortcut	Description
Dark Forest	`Alt+1`	Deep greens with natural tones
Dark Mint	`Alt+2`	Cool teals and aqua shades
Dark Nebula	`Alt+3`	Purple and violet cosmic colors
Dark Ocean	`Alt+4`	Navy blues with ocean depths

Light Themes

Theme	Shortcut	Description
Light Forest	`Alt+5`	Soft greens and earth tones
Light Mint	`Alt+6`	Fresh teals and aqua highlights
Light Nebula	`Alt+7`	Bright purples and lavender
Light Ocean	`Alt+8`	Sky blues and ocean surface

All themes provide coordinated color schemes across UI elements, custom board colors, matching evaluation bars, and readable text in all conditions.

🔊 Sound Effects

Distinct audio feedback for different moves:

Move Type	Sound
Standard moves	Basic piece movement
Captures	Distinctive capture sound
Castling	Special castling sound
Check	Alert when king is in check
Pawn promotion	Promotion sound effect
Game over	End-of-game sound

🎓 How to Play

♟️ Making Moves

Drag and Drop

Click and hold a piece
Dots appear on legal squares
Drag to a legal square
Release to play your move

👑 Pawn Promotion

When promoting a pawn:

Play the promotion move
A dialog appears with piece options
Click your desired piece (♕ Queen, ♖ Rook, ♗ Bishop, or ♘ Knight)
The promotion completes

🔬 Engine Analysis

To analyze a position:

Click Start Analysis (or press F3)
The evaluation bar animates to show position assessment
The best move appears as an arrow on the board
The variation panel shows the principal line
Click Stop Analysis (or press F4) to end

📊 Understanding the Evaluation

Display	Meaning
`+2.50`	White is ahead by 2.5 pawns
`-1.75`	Black is ahead by 1.75 pawns
`M5`	White has checkmate in 5 moves
`M-5`	Black has checkmate in 5 moves

📖 Reviewing Games

Navigate through your game history:

⬅️ Left Arrow / Mouse Wheel Up -> Previous move
➡️ Right Arrow / Mouse Wheel Down -> Next move
🖱️ Click -> Jump to move

🔨 Setting Up Positions

Copy a FEN string
Double-click the FEN editor (below the board) to paste from clipboard
Valid positions load automatically
Invalid FEN strings show a red warning
Edit any FEN string to set custom positions

⚙️ Settings

Access settings via Ctrl+, or the toolbar button.

Player Configuration

Human Name Set your player name (appears in saved PGN files)

Engine Color

Black - You play White, engine plays Black
White - You play Black, engine plays White

Performance Tuning

Ponder Mode Enable to let the engine think during your turn (stronger play, uses more CPU)

Time Control Select base time and increment for both players

💾 Note: Settings are preserved between sessions in ~/.StrikeChess/settings.json

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+N`	New game
`Ctrl+Q`	Quit application
`Ctrl+,`	Open settings
`F1`	About dialog

Files

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+O`	Load game from PGN
`Ctrl+S`	Save game as PGN

Engine

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+L`	Load engine
`Ctrl+U`	Unload engine
`Ctrl+P`	Force engine to play move now

Analysis

Shortcut	Action
`F3`	Start position analysis
`F4`	Stop position analysis

Board

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+F`	Flip board
`←` / `→`	Navigate move history
`Mouse Wheel`	Scroll through moves

Themes

Shortcut	Theme
`Alt+1`	Dark Forest
`Alt+2`	Dark Mint
`Alt+3`	Dark Nebula
`Alt+4`	Dark Ocean
`Alt+5`	Light Forest
`Alt+6`	Light Mint
`Alt+7`	Light Nebula
`Alt+8`	Light Ocean

📄 PGN Files

💾 Saving Games

Click Save as PGN (Ctrl+S)
Choose location and filename
Game is saved with complete headers and metadata

Example PGN Output:

[Event "StrikeChess Game"]
[Site "Computer"]
[Date "2025.11.16"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Player"]
[Black "Stockfish 17.1"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 1-0

📂 Loading Games

Click Load from PGN (Ctrl+O)
Select a valid PGN file
Game loads with all moves
Navigate through the game freely
Continue playing from any position

📸 Screenshots

🔧 Configuring time controls and engine settings

📜 Reviewing game history with the move table

🔬 Analyzing a position with evaluation bar and variation display

👑 Selecting a promotion piece

🆘 Troubleshooting

Engine Won't Load

Problem: "Cannot load UCI engine" error appears

Solutions:

✅ Verify the file is a UCI-compatible chess engine
✅ Ensure the engine matches your platform (Windows/Linux/macOS)
✅ Check CPU architecture compatibility (x86_64, ARM, etc.)
✅ On macOS: The app automatically removes quarantine attributes
✅ On Linux: The app automatically sets executable permissions

macOS Quarantine Issues

If macOS blocks the engine:

The app attempts to remove quarantine attributes automatically
If issues persist, manually run:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /path/to/engine

PGN Won't Load

Problem: "Cannot load game" error

Solutions:

✅ Verify the file contains valid PGN format
✅ Check for missing or malformed headers
✅ Ensure move notation is correct
✅ Try opening the file in a text editor to check for corruption

Performance Issues

If analysis is slow:

Reduce Threads - The engine uses half your CPU cores by default
Reduce Hash - The engine uses 25% of available RAM
Disable Ponder - Turn off thinking during opponent's turn
Close Applications - Free system resources

Duplicate Launch Warning

StrikeChess prevents multiple instances:

Only one copy can run at a time
If you see a warning, close the existing instance first
Check system tray/dock for running instances

📦 Technical Details

📦 Dependencies

StrikeChess requires the following Python packages:

Package	Version	Purpose
chess	~= 1.11.0	Chess logic and move generation library
psutil	~= 7.1.0	System resource monitoring for engine optimization
PySide6	~= 6.10.0	Qt-based GUI framework for cross-platform interface

📥 Included Software

Stockfish 17.1 chess engine is bundled with StrikeChess:

📜 License: GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3)
💻 Source: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish
🌐 Platforms: Windows (x64), Linux (x64), macOS (Universal)
🏠 Official Site: https://stockfishchess.org

📋 See NOTICE.txt for complete Stockfish licensing information.

💻 Platform Requirements

Requirement	Minimum	Recommended
Python	3.14	3.14+
OS	Windows 10+ / macOS 11+ / Modern Linux	Latest stable
RAM	2GB	4GB+ (for analysis)
Storage	50MB	100MB+ (with saved games)

🐍 Why Python 3.14?

StrikeChess uses postponed evaluation of type annotations (PEP 749 & PEP 649), introduced in Python 3.14, which eliminates the need for from __future__ import annotations while maintaining clean, modern Python syntax.

Detailed Installation

1. Install Python 3.14 or newer:

Platform	Installation
🪟 Windows	Download Python 3.14 installer
🐧 Linux	`sudo apt-get install python3.14` (or use your distribution's package manager)
🍎 macOS	Download Python 3.14 installer

2. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

🍎 macOS users: Use pip3 instead of pip

3. Launch StrikeChess:

python main.py

🍎 macOS users: Use python3 instead of python

📦 Creating a Standalone Executable

1. Install PyInstaller:

pip install pyinstaller

🍎 macOS users: Use pip3 instead of pip

2. Build the executable:

pyinstaller --clean bundle.spec

3. Find your executable:

🪟 Windows: dist/StrikeChess.exe
🐧🍎 Linux/macOS: dist/StrikeChess

👨‍💻 Developing with StrikeChess

📂 Project Structure

StrikeChess/
├── main.py              # Application entry point
├── bundle.spec          # PyInstaller build configuration
├── requirements.txt     # Python dependencies
├── LICENSE.txt          # MIT License
├── NOTICE.txt           # Third-party licenses (Stockfish GPLv3)
├── strikechess/
│   ├── __init__.py      # Qt resource compilation
│   ├── settings.json    # Default settings
│   ├── openings.json    # Opening name database
│   ├── assets/          # Images, sounds, engines, themes
│   ├── services/        # Core game logic
│   ├── ui/              # User interface components
│   └── utils.py         # Helper functions

📝 Code Style

The codebase follows:

✅ Type hints throughout for clarity
✅ Descriptive names for variables and methods
✅ PEP 8 style guidelines
✅ Service-based architecture separating concerns
✅ Signal/slot pattern for event handling

🙏 Credits

🐍 Python Development

Thanks to all contributors to the Python programming language for creating an ever-evolving ecosystem!

Source: https://github.com/python/cpython
Downloads: https://www.python.org/downloads

♟️ python-chess Library

Kudos to Niklas Fiekas for the excellent python-chess library that powers StrikeChess's game logic!

Source: https://github.com/niklasf/python-chess
PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/chess

🖼 PySide6 Framework

Hats off to the PySide6 team for bringing Qt's powerful GUI framework to Python!

PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/PySide6

📊 psutil Library

Shoutout to Giampaolo Rodola for psutil, enabling intelligent resource management!

Source: https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil
PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/psutil

🏆 Stockfish Engine

Big thanks to the Stockfish developers for continuously improving the world's strongest open-source chess engine!

Source: https://github.com/official-stockfish/Stockfish
Downloads: https://stockfishchess.org/download

📜 License

StrikeChess is licensed under the MIT License.

See LICENSE.txt for full text.

🔓 Using StrikeChess in Your Project

You're free to use, modify, and distribute StrikeChess under the MIT License. If you create derivative works:

1. Include the original copyright notice:

Copyright (C) 2025 Boštjan Mejak
Copyright (C) 2025 Your Name

2. If bundling Stockfish, you must:

✅ Include Stockfish's copyright notice
✅ Include the full GPLv3 license text
✅ Provide access to Stockfish source code

📋 See NOTICE.txt for the complete template.

❌ Not Supported

Chess variants (Chess960, 3-check, King of the Hill, etc.) are not supported
Online play - StrikeChess is designed for local play and analysis only
Multiple PGN games - Only one game per PGN file is loaded

💬 Support

For bugs, feature requests, or questions:

🐛 Issues: Report problems or suggest improvements
👍 Feedback: Use the thumbs down in issue discussions for bugs you'd like prioritized

⚡ StrikeChess 1.0 - Enjoy your games! ⚡

Made with ❤️ by Boštjan Mejak

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 311 Commits
strikechess		strikechess
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE.txt		LICENSE.txt
NOTICE.txt		NOTICE.txt
README.md		README.md
bundle.spec		bundle.spec
main.py		main.py
requirements.txt		requirements.txt

License

PedanticHacker/StrikeChess

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